Thief on the Phone

My wife and I are both lucky enough to have our mothers around in their mid ninety’s.  Both have retained their mental acuity and both are revered by our family members, especially by their grandchildren and great grand children.   These feelings go both ways.

This week, one of the ladies received an unexpected phone call in the middle of the afternoon that went somewhat like this:

“Granny, I’m in trouble,” said the voice on the phone.

“Billy, (name changed to protect the innocent) is that you?” she replied, although no grandmother in our family had ever been called “Granny” by any grandchild.

“It’s me and I’m in trouble.  I’ve been arrested, I need your help,” said the voice.  “I was in a car accident, and the other person is in the hospital.  They say I was drinking, but I wasn’t.”

“What do you need?”

“Five thousand to make bond. They would have taken a credit card, but I don’t have one on me.”

“I’ll call your mother.”

“Please, don’t call anyone, I’d be so embarrassed.  Just give me your credit card number and I’ll pay you back tomorrow.”

By that time it was clear to our mom that something was not quite right.  “Billy”, the real one, was a totally responsible professional who has never been in any trouble and was on a business trip out of the country. Mom asked for a phone number, and said that she would try to get some money together.  The voice said he would call back.

Mom called me and a conclusion was immediately resolved that our “Nonnie” was the intended victim of a scam.  The scammer never called back.

The scammer probably continued down some list of senior citizen’s phone numbers that he had somehow collected off the Internet and before the day was over successfully completed his thievery.

Just another day in paradise.