"Is this a scam?" chapter seventy-billion, need answer fastish

In My Humble Opinion
1

Yeah yeah, I know: if you have to ask “is this a scam” the answer is highly likely to be yes. In this case, though, I’m not so sure.

So about three years ago I had brief contact with a neighbor, as some bamboo growing on her property was causing a dangerous situation on mine. (All resolved in a neighborly fashion that left everyone happy.) I visited her one time and we had a nice chat. She was 77, living alone in a somewhat hard-to-manage house, and her son had said, “Mom, you need to come live with me in California, you can’t be alone in Hawaii.” So the house was on the market and I believe it was sold though I don’t remember for sure (I moved to a different spot on island so didn’t really track matters).

Anyway, when I met my neighbor, I offered to help if she had any problems. (What’s the world coming to if a sweet elderly lady living alone can’t call her neighbor and say “I need help bringing my groceries in the house, they are too heavy for me” and stuff like that?)

She never took me up on my offer and I more or less forgot about her. But I just got an email that asked if I could help her with something. So I responded “sure, what’s up?” and got this:

Sorry for bothering you. I need your assistance with purchasing an Apple Gift Card for a friend who is down with cancer of the Liver, it’s her birthday today and I promised to get it for her, but I can’t do this now because I’m currently out of town and all my effort purchasing it online proved abortive.

Can you get it from any store around you for me? I’ll reimburse you once I return. Please let me know if you can handle this so I can give you the details.

Oh FFS. No, lady, I don’t want to run around town for you buying gift cards and presumably delivering them to your friend. You lived on our island for years, don’t you know anyone else who could help? A mutual friend of the woman with liver cancer, perhaps? Plus, that language just reads like a scam waiting to happen.

OTOH, I can afford a $15 gift card without worrying about whether she ever pays me back or not, and if it’s a chance to bring a spot of cheer into the life of the cancer patient, why not? If I limit myself to $15 and no personal data shared, do I face any risk beyond the $15 bucks and a couple hours of my time?

So the question is - could this be legit? Or am I being drawn into some scam? I honestly don’t know.

2

I would venture a guess that this is not a scam, but you still shouldn’t do it anyway.

Based off the person and circumstances, it sounds like an honest attempt by someone who may not know social-engineering or the Internet or tech well. A lot of elderly people, really, can sound scam-ish by being naive and honest.

But I’d still decline if I were you.

3

Given some unusual phrasing (“my effort purchasing it online proved abortive.”) it’s almost certainly a scam. I got a similar request from my brother’s email a few years ago.

4

I doubt it is a scam, but it does sound like it exceeds what assistance you intended. So I would just say something like, “Sorry, I won’t be able to get around to it.”

The phrasing does sound weird, tho. And I don’t understand how it is supposed to work. How are you supposed to get the card to the friend?

5

Yeah, I have no idea. My guess is that I am supposed to drive to Target, buy the card, then drive it to her friend’s house. Her first note asked if I am “busy” so I assume a certain investment of time is involved (the Big Island is super spread out - you can easily live 20-50 miles away from your closest friends).

6

If you are willing to do this in the event that it’s legitimate, you could just reply that you have the card and ask where to deliver it. If it’s a scam, the answer will 100% be to email or text the code on it to someone rather than deliver it to a nice old lady friend.

I think this is extremely likely a scam (99+%), but if she gives you a local address then you can always go buy the card and then deliver it.

If you’re not willing to do the drive, then it doesn’t matter if it’s a scam.

7

I’m leaning toward that option. Going to go for my morning run now; I think I’ll send her a quick note asking her plan for delivering the card. That may be useful info.

I’ll report on what happens next.

8

Ask her for phone number because you’d love to have chat with an old neighbor and catch up wrt helping her out.

In addition she’s living with her son become she’s getting vulnerable as she ages so presumably he would be helping her with purchases.

9

Never mind. Definitely a scam per this site:

They mention circumstances virtually identical to what is being proposed.

10

Scam. Weird phrasing (down with cancer…) and capitalizing Liver.
Also, not saying why she’s having trouble purchasing the gift card.
“abortive” is a big ol’ red flag.

11

I guess this is why they keep at it. Anything, in any context, asking you to buy a gift card is a scam. If my own mother asked me in person over the dinner table to buy one for her I’d report her to the cops.

12

Ha ha.

I hope that @Dinsdale and @Velocity will come back and share their mental model of how this would likely not be a scam. It’s obviously a scam!

13

I’ve sent back a note saying I can’t help.

14

Your neighbor likely has no idea this email has been sent. It’s likely a scammer who got your neighbor’s email contacts. The scammer is sending out emails to everyone asking them to get a gift card. The scammer doesn’t know that you are her neighbor and could deliver it in person. If you were to reply you could do it, the “details” they would provide would be to buy the card and then email back the number and pin.

15

You realize that she did not send the email, right? She will be confused.

16

In the past year I received two nearly identically worded requests, one from my dentist and a second from an associate. Don’t respond. It’s a scam.

17

https://coloradomusic.org/buyer-beware-wow-no-words-on-this-one-please-dont-fall-for-it/

I hope this finds you well. I need a favor from you.

I need you to get a Google-play gift card for a friend who is down with cancer of the Liver, it’s her birthday today and I promised to get it for her, but I can’t do this now because I’m currently out of town and all my effort purchasing it online proved abortive… Can you get it from any store around you for me? I’ll reimburse you upon my arrival. Please let me know if you can handle this so I can tell you the amount and how to get them to me.

18

Well, the scammer is using her email address in both directions. “Her” first note said “hi, are you busy, I need your help with something” and I responded “sure, what’s up?” and then got the note that I copied and pasted.

So I don’t think the neighbor will get any of my emails, just the scammer. But if the neighbor gets my emails too, she (or her son) will no doubt figure out what’s happening.

19

Right? This seemed like an obvious scam to me.

20

Yeah, I feel a little stupid for even briefly having considered it. In my weak defense, the note did fit the facts better than one might expect through random chance: I had offered to help her, and it made perfect sense that she’d be in California, returning to Hawai’i at some point for a visit. Plus, English is not her first language (she’s Japanese) so even the odd phrasing could be excused. And she’s old so having trouble doing something on line is plausible.

But googling her note should have been my first step.