My mom fills out sweepstakes entries, for Publishers Clearinghouse and the like. Someone called her today from “Homeland Security in Miami, Florida” and said they’re holding “a package” (meaning a check for $450,000!) for her at the airport. They gave her a phone number to call down there for more information. I googled the number, couldn’t find anything except references to Vegas vacations and hybrid cars. I told mom it’s probably a scam of some sort, to not give any personal information like a social security number or bank account number, but mom is all excited … I said even if they do send some kind of check it’s going to be a fake, worthless. If she DID win money, they wouldn’t go through a song and dance about holding it at airports… Jeez.
Probably they will ask for some sort of fee or tax or some such, before releasing the package, which will never materialise, after they run off.
Or maybe they’ll kidnap and kill her. Is there even any reason to believe the people who contacted her are who they say they are, or are even officials in any capacity? or could they just be people who intend to meet her at the airport (if at all - that bit might also just be an opening lie), as a starting point for their scam.
Or they could be debt collectors, who think she is their mark.
Nah, the money or whatever is at the airport down in Florida. I think they’re going to ask for her to send a "handling fee’ via Western Union, or some such. I can’t imagine why “Homeland Security” in Florida would be interested in a senior citizen across the country. Sounds fishy fishy fishy to me. A lot of confusing double-talk and important sounding procedures.
Sounds like a standard lottery scam. They’ll ask her to send them money for “fees,” taxes, insurance, etc. Possibly they’ll ask for bank account information so they can withdraw this money directly. Either way, once she sends them money (or they’ve emptied her bank account), they’ll disappear.
If she receives any kind of check from them, it will be fake. She can take it to the bank and deposit it, and the bank may even credit her account at first, but eventually the “check” will bounce and they’ll reverse the deposit AND ding her for NSF fees.
I’m betting it’s a timeshare seminar.
http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/Content/News/February-2010/Homeland-Security-Scam.aspx
*FDLE cautions citizens that there is a common scam circulating allegedly sent from Thomas J. McInerney, Deputy Commissioner, Florida Department of Law Enforcement which claims that Homeland Security has a financial settlement for the recipient. The message requests an immediate response from the recipient and asks for personal information and a bank account to officially carry out the verification process to receive compensation.
DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS COMMUNICATION OR PROVIDE ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION!
Special Agent in Charge Tom McInerney is employed by FDLE, but is not the author of this scam/fraud letter. SAC McInerney’s information was obtained from a public US Department of Homeland Security web site and is being used to give credence to a variety of fraud/scams similar to the Nigerian Scam (Secure Florida).*
It boggles the mind that people even think twice about such things, no matter what their age.
I guess it always comes down to greed and people’s desire to believe when some green may be in the end zone. I like to play with scams received just for the entertainment value, but I’m getting kind of burned out on them these days.
It’s not always greed. We investigated a few where the scamsters befriended elderly women, whose family hardly ever bother to visit or call. The scamster called once a day, and chatted for a hour or so.
Most such scams prey on the elderly, who are lonely and sometimes easliy confused. They are not greedy.
I think your best bet is going to be to give her the number (that you looked up on your own) for Homeland Security at the Miami Airport (or the closest you can get to it) and have her call them. My guess is that this isn’t the first time they’ve heard of this. If it is, hopefully they’ll be able to understand what’s going on and explain to her that she’s being ripped off.
No offense to your mom but why are people stupid and is this going to happen to me someday?
The bad news is yes. The worse news is that, due to the Dunning-Kruger Effect, it has probably already happened.
Thank you for that information. That’s proof enough.
My mom is neither stupid nor greedy, she’s modestly well off. But she is elderly, lives on her own, somewhat gullible, and is bored. She started sending in small fees to enter sweepstakes for fun, but it is escalating, she is on a mailing list and gets dozens of letters promising big, big cash prizes. And now the scammers are calling her! I’ll show her some of these responses, reiterate NO sharing of sensitive information or sending them money, and tell her to ignore phone calls. Because I know they prey upon the elderly, and I know in old age your brain doesn’t work the way it did when younger.
Thanks for the replies. (you think this would never happen to you, or someone you know. It’s a sad situation.)
No problem, it’s part of what they pay me for. I hope it will help.
It’s the loneliness, so step up your calls to her, visit her a little more often. Remember the scammers will happily call her a hour a day.
How is this not any easy crime for law enforcement to stop?
You call the number and the scammer says to meet them at the airport and/or provide banking details. You call the cops and they set up a sting operations through the local PD in the region where the airport is pretending to be the victim or providing a fake bank account that acts as a honeypot, then arrest the dirtbag scammer. I understand this is complicated by people doing the Western Union thing, especially when it leaves the country, but even with Western Union, you’d think the PD near the local Western Union pick up office would nail the scammer when they picked it up.
I understand it is a low priority crime, but I would think this would be a low risk operation for the police and it would be a great high profile case for the police to make an example of to persuade others not to do the scam.
Only if the scammers are foolish enough to pick the money up as cash, instead of having it directly placed into their bank account, and also foolish enough to operate in a country where the local police would take action.
How is the fake charity scam related to the greed of the mark? I think it’s very comforting to think only the greedy get taken in by scams, but it isn’t entirely correct.
I would think even the police in a corrupt country would be interested in these types of scams if only so they could steal the money from the scammer. Hell, it may be the police doing the scam for all we know. It does make one wonder how a legitimate company operating in Nigeria ever get started in international business given the country’s reputation for scams.
I find this comment, however offhanded you may have intended it, extremely offensive. Do you have any evidence to support a claim that a police department in the United States is purposefully engaging in charity or sweepstakes scams on the elderly?
Yarster was referring to police in a corrupt country.