Very sad, just imagine some of these people are not always in controlled environments with staff around, but living in their own homes.

I think Bell has an option that you can choose to not receive any calls from blocked numbers.

Problem is, what if a resident has a relative or other important contact who has blocked their number for some legitimate reason? We block outbound call display on all our corporate cell phones because otherwise we get patients calling clincial staff on their cell phones instead of calling their local branch number (which has 24 hour staffing between our day staff and our night answering service).

Bell should be able to trace the blocked number if the cops request it although if the guy is on the ball, he'll be changing numbers or even using some kind of Internet phone (which is easier to obfuscate).

Mendalla

 Someone in my congregation the other day told me that she had received a phone call supposedly from a provincial government office asking for very personal information including things such as where she worked, what hours she worked, what was your income last year, etc., and when she said she preferred not to answer she was told it was "the law" and that she had no choice but to answer. Apparently the letters "GOV" (suggesting government) were part of the Call Display that came up but it sure sounds fishy to me. I told her to get whatever information she had from her Call Display and call both her MPP and the police to check up on this.

 Seniors have to take some responsibility for protecting themselves.  Being older means that one has more experience, not less.  I know from experience that you don't get dumber as you get older, you get smarter (or at least you can if you put your mind to it).  Seniors have seen more subterfuges, not less.  We have seen more of the dark side of human nature, not less.  It is a mystery to me why seniors seem to become more gullible as they gain experience, not less gullible. Why would any right thinking person just send money away because somebody told them to?   If a mutual fund salesman (who most likely is known and recommended to them) suggests an investment in even the largest and most conservative of professionally managed investments they will read and research for weeks on the internet and elsewhere before making even a small investment (or chickening out and rolling over their GIC's for another 5 years) but when somebody calls them on the phone asserting they are a grandson trapped in a jail in Idaho they immediately whip out their cheque books?   

On the other hand, I guess preying on the fears of "seniors" is a bit of a tradition in this country.  These are the same oldsters who are so careful (fearful?) with their money that they have it all in long term deposits which the banks kid them into thinking of as "investments" (the term being imbedded in the misleading term "GIC" for "guaranteed investment certificate").  Whatever, a bank deposit at 1.5% (or at any interest rate) may be, it is certainly not properly characterized as an investment.

If one stands in the wilderness bleating "take care of me, I am helpless" eventually some predator comes along and does just that ... maybe from an imaginary jail in Idaho or with an imaginary investment offered through the nearest branch of a mainline bank.  You have to take care of yourself.

LBmuskoka, what you have described is a scam and was featured on Global TV's Marketplace a couple of months ago.  The segment told the stories of a couple of trusting grandparents who had been bilked out of thousands of dollars.  Also on the show were a couple of seniors who were suspicious at the call and had called the parents, only to find the grandson was well and didn't need money.

scamming the elderly is big business.

whether it is convincing them that the roof desparately needs replacement or preying on their lonliness for family like this one, it is big business.

they get mail that seems real and they follow up on it.

I think they are a trusting generation and that someone talking smoothly, confidently and a bit fast gets them convinced/confused.

I do think that the police could do more to investigate this set of calls though.

DO your residents have their own phone numbers through a switch board or directly through Bell? 

Bell usually takes fraud seriously so I would do somemore calls to Bell and the police.

What is really frightening is that the scam artists gain access to personal information to know that seniors have grandchildren and learn the names to carry out their scam.

Surely with the technology available, police can trace calls and stop the perpetators.

I doubt they know whether someone has a grandson,

If they use the line and the person doesn't , they will just move to the next call.

It is simply a lucky guess.

much like psychics use lucky guesses

LBMuskoka .. this is indeed sad and cruel. Arggg.

Qwerty, I agree. What is UP with that?

As has been written - scamming the elderly is big business.

I'm sorry that you, the staff and residents, had to undergo this experience.

Perhaps a positive that can come from this is a new awareness of the dangers of this and other similar scams?

It's an opportune time to call in one of your famous mounties to give an address to the residents - and  for the staff to circulate some written material for them to read.

I feel there is a wider issue here.

It can be summed up in one word - empathy.

Empathy is sadly lacking in all those who carry out such scams.

Without wishing to excuse the perpetrators, I do wonder if empathy was nurtured and encouraged in their upbringing?

Like ripples spreading out on a pond the lack of empathy has far-reaching implications for all of society.

LB, you make the point that these elderly were not senile.

IMO there is something terribly wrong with our modern society generally, if elderly folks of sound mind don't recognize the sound of their own grandson's voices?

It suggests that there isn't much personal contact - maybe this is a wider issue that needs to be addressed?

Unfortunately, this scam has been going on for a few years.  Here's where to report it:

Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre

http://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/english/reportit_howtorep...

Toll Free: 1-888-495-8501

Toll Free Fax: 1-888-654-9426
Email: info@antifraudcentre.ca

Hopefully, information is available in any long-term care facility or senior independent living complex, but from people I have talked to most young people have heard about these scams where as seniors haven't.

Nasty, nasty, nasty - thanks for alerting us to it lb - I hadn't heard about this before. 

And thanks chemgal for posting that link - a good one to keep track of! 

Thank you Chemgal - I'll be following up on it.

Lastpointe asked if our calls go through a switchboard - no, they do not.  This is an independent home, meaning the residents have their own phones much like an apartment.  This means they have rights to privacy and I often run into difficulties contacting agencies like Bell Canada on their behalf (but that is another tale of woe that would turn into a rant).

Whether the police can do anything or not I do not know.   I do know they have yet to show any willingness.  We called the OPP after the first call.  We called them after the second and third call.  I repeatedly called our Community Policing Station and got no answer, not even a machine.  One of our residents went to the Station and complained - so far we have not been contacted by either an officer or liaison to arrange an in-service.  I don't find fault here btw, our officers are busy but it does add to the sense of helplessness.

Pilgrim you mentioned not being able to recognize voices - again, this is the beauty of this scam.  They are preying on people whose hearing may be compromised.  Elderly people can lose the ability to distinguish between tonal qualities - we all sound alike to them.    As I said the fellow who called was good, he sounded like any young Canadian on the phone.  He didn't say a name but relied on the natural instinct of the other person to say it and once he had that name the rest came easy.

Rev. Davis funny you mention the survey calls.  I also dealt with that one this week.  This time the call came through our office phone and the caller asked to speak to one of our residents.  Being on the defensive I started asking questions and got out of him that he was calling for CCAC (for those outside Ontario this is an organization that provides home care) and was conducting a survey.  He refused to give me his name and contact number.  When I hung up I immediately contacted CCAC and asked what was going on.  There is a survey being conducted but it is being conducted by "professional" surveyors not CCAC and my contact admitted the surveyors are very pushy.  Here lies yet another problem because how does one weed out the legitimate with the illegitimate, particularly when the crooks are more polite?

Qwerty you know I love ya big guy, but sometimes you're full of crap.  The individuals involved are not  "bleating "take care of me, I am helpless" .  They are trusting.  Their reaction to having that trust broken, even if just for a moment, is the same as you and I, one of frustration and sadness.  For those seniors who are "helpless" because of deafness, cognitive impairment or the many other physical burdens of old age,  they have earned the right to be protected from predators.  Our seniors have paid their dues to society and society owes them, if nothing else, a little compassion.

LB

Old age is no place for sissies.

     Bette Davis

 LB, it's unfortunate the police wouldn't direct you to that link.  I'm curious to see if the anti-fraud centre does much more than the police you already contacted.  Let us know what happens!

 I know all about comprimised hearing.  I am now the proud owner of a hearing aid for each ear.  I know that if I'm not wearing them everyone sounds the same (somewhat like Donald Duck). It is a disability but it shouldn't be fatal to your judgement.

My point is (although I know it will sound terribly cynical to a lot of people here at wondercafe) that where money is involved one simply cannot be "trusting" ... ever, even when you are speaking face to face with a family member, nevermind with a disembodied voice on a phone.  In my experience as a solicitor I have come across many instances of children stealing from parents, sons taking their mother's life savings, brothers attempting to appropriate legacies bequeathed to their late brother's widow, and mothers financially oppressing their own daughters and wrongly appropriating their property.  It is pretty routine stuff, actually and not at all out of the ordinary.

Even when one is speaking face to face with a family member (including one's own child) intentions should be documented and property and money transfers should be explained and recorded in written agreements drafted and reviewed by lawyers.  Nothing should be taken for granted.  Actions are equivocal and conversations are subject to the vagaries of human recall and selective memory.  

In addition, the transactions of attorneys entrusted to conduct your affairs ought,  to be scrutinized, if possible, notwithstanding that you have placed your trust in them, because attorneys often have a way of forgetting that property is not theirs or lying to themselves (and later to the grantor) and of treating the grantor's property as theirs because they have been told that it will be willed to them on the death of the grantor of the power.  Sometimes the money is all spent by the attorney/proposed beneficiary even before the grantor has no more need of it.

As Doctor House memorably said in one of the early episodes of the television show, House,  "All people lie ... all the time."  When money is involved that goes double.  So when anyone tells you a story, check, check , check and verify, verify, verify.  As long as you are living on this earth you have never earned the right to be "trusting".  You only achieve that right when you get to heaven and even in eternity you might be wise to keep a weather eye open just to make sure that all the angels are on the level (and stay on the level) for as is recorded in Paradise Lost even the greatest of  angels fall from time to time. 

I have plenty of compassion and I feel terrible every time I see someone (often an elderly person) who has been taken/bilked and  has (as is usual) no means of ever recovering their money or property.  I am especially vexed when I perceive that even just a little healthy skepticism and perhaps some counsel from a solicitor might have saved them.

It is not necessary to become a suspicious old fart.  One merely must take the proper care.  Do your due diligence!

Now there is the Qwerty I love

What makes this scam interesting is the tag team approach of "grandson" and "lawyer".  The grandson makes the initial call, tells grandma or grandpa their tale of woe and informs them that their lawyer will be calling them.  It is the "lawyer" that informs them of the ins and outs of how to send the money.  I suspect it is this legal voice of authority that gives the final push to even the cynical.

What frustrates me, and what always frustrates me, is that there is nothing I can do - and it appears no one else is willing to do anything - to stop this kind of behaviour.  Personally I resent being made cynical and suspicious and that resentment doesn't just make me an old fart it makes me a grumpy old woman and when it comes to my lovely elderly residents being harmed my resentment makes me a ferocious old she bear.

As cynical as I am of the human race, I still hope to be proven wrong....

LB

I don't answer the phone. I get the feeling whenever I do that there will be someone on the other end.

     Fred Couples

 I guess I ought to have explained that slightly more thoroughly.  When I wrote about "even just a little healthy skepticism and perhaps some counsel from a solicitor" I meant, of course, counsel from your solicitor not the other guy's solicitor.   It is clear to me that in most of these cases these scams might never have come off if somebody had just asked in what county the nephew was "trapped" and a long distance phone call had been made to the police station (or wherever else he was purported to be stranded) or if the "lawyer's" name had been requested and his number obtained by long distance information and a call made to his office. 

I am friends with a busy locksmith in town.  He tells me colourful stories about his adventures in lock land ... separated husbands (mostly but also wives) getting the locksmith to open the door to the house where they have "locked themselves out" ... evictions ... repossessions under power of sale ... police escorts to the job ... police escorts from the job.  He was shaking his head the other day and saying that he he was so disillusioned with the human race because he had, essentially,  discovered what Dr. House already seemed to know, namely, that "all people lie ... all the time".

A recurring story of my locksmith friend that I find particularly irksome is how it has become common for people who have parked their cars in the lots at the head of many of the forest walking trails in the country outside of our town to return to their cars and find that it hasd been broken into.  The modus operendi (that's lawyer talk) of the thieves is to wait near the lot in some hidden spot.  They watch as the car owner dutifully locks his wallet and the wife's purse out of sight in the trunk before beginning their walk.  When the walkers have departed they smash a window break into the car (how low can you go!) and take the purse and wallet etc.  The walkerscome back and are all torn up about losing their belongings, ID, and money.  They call the police.  Maybe a tow truck too.  They wait for them to arrive.  They make their report.  They commiserate with each other about having to replace their credit cards.  They resolve to cancel their cards as soon as they get home. Finally, they depart for home only to arrive and (horrors!) find that the thieves have already let themselves into their house using their keys and emptied the house of all of the computers and valuables or even the furniture. 

In a world where something as simple as a walk in the country can become complicated by this sort of perfidy it is going to be a very long time, indeed, before you get to shed your carapace of cynicism LB.  

As I wrote this I was checking the outside temperature on my electronic desk thermometer.  It is getting colder.  Do you think that this is a sign that hell is about to freeze over LB?

Well... since in the last two weeks it has felt as if I have been thrown into a pit of thieves and fools (a very long story that I couldn't post if I wanted to because I would probably lose my reputable source of income, although now that I think about it I have the blueprint for earning a disreputable income and much higher than my reputable) I believe I can accurately state - despite the fact that we hit -37c without any wind chill - that hell isn't freezing, heck it hasn't even been snowing!

LB

Hell is empty and all the devils are here.

     William Shakespeare, The Tempest

OMG qwerty - that's a horrible tale re the hikers!  I had not heard or thought of such a thing occuring ... although does make sense in an abberant kind of way.   I'm one to usually take my valuables in my backpack when I hike ... but sheesh! 

The hiking story is not new. Alas. Money is a powerful motivator. 

This has been going on for years - It is unthinkable for me to leave my wallet anywhere.

When I was a runner, I left it at home and just took my driver's licence.

This has been going on for years - It is unthinkable for me to leave my wallet anywhere.

When I was a runner, I left it at home and just took my driver's licence.

AHA!!  Chalk up one for the good guys - Halton police arrested 7 people in connection with this scam today!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/02/23/telephone-fraud.html?sms_ss=twitter&at_xt=4d655d07d1be676a,0

 Glad to hear it!  Thanks Carolla.

 Ha!  I read one of the comments on the story:

"Hopefully, they all have to call their grandmothers to ask for bail money."

I thought that was a funny comment too chemgal! 

Thank you Carolla!

Although sadly one of my residents received one of those calls again just yesterday :-(

My plan this time is to write to the families of our residents and ask them to contact us if there are any "real" family emergencies.  This way we can easily give reassurance to our people.

Speaking of scams,  I had an interesting chat with a woman who works security for a major bank.  She said a variation of this scam is that people actually go to the senior's home with the same "emergency" scam story - acting as a "friend" of the family member.  They then go to the bank with the senior who withdraws the money.

Anyway, I'm going  to post that article to the board - might give some reassurance to my people,  Thank you again!

I had a similar call a couple of years ago on my cell phone insisting they were a government department and I must comply.  I asked the penalty for non-compliance and they said I could be arrested.  I ask them what address would they send the arresting officers to, and they couldn't provide it.  I asked if they didn't have my address, how could they arrest me ?  They asked to confirm my address and I said I wasn't giving out info over the phone.  I said I'd be home for the next hour and I await my arrest.  I said I would go without a struggle.  Then I said 'See you soon' and hung up.  Of course, no one came. 

your post made me laugh AbrahamMartin   I can just imagine the exasperated person on the other end of your conversation.   I do imagine there are many who did supply their information though, which is sad. 

Sounds like a good plan LB - it will be interesting to hear the chatter of your residents in response.   Perhaps AbrahamMartin needs to come in as a guest speaker one day!

They were very appreciative of the article, thank you again Carolla.

What I found interesting was the response of a 30 year old grandchild.  Our residents while upset and distressed never expressed anger, this young woman did and was obviously responding to the vulnerability of the elderly victims.  She was particularly incensed by the reported statements of a Western Union employee, who when questioned about sending wire transfers, not once but twice for $4,000 and then $7,000, on behalf of a 90 year old man, said "I thought it was fraud" yet did nothing.

I believe, like her, that there are more people responsible in these crimes than the victim and perpetrator.  That such crimes occur because somewhere, somehow, society has lost sight of the role of the community as a whole to protect our vulnerable.

LB

Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other.

     Rainer Maria Rilke

It's still going on:

http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/senior-loses-dollar20000-to-scammer-posing-as-grandson-2

I disagree with the son, who thought the bank should have contacted him.  It's his mother's money, and by the sounds of it she is still independent.  Not allowing seniors being able to do what they wish with their money opens them up to abuse by their families.

If the residence was aware of this scam, why weren't residents informed?  This isn't a new scam.  If a senior doesn't have any memory or reasoning problems, why are they still susceptible to this scam?

I am a little surprised the police haven't caught these people yet.  I wonder if some are the ones originally involved, or if it's all copycats now.  Montreal still seems to be the destination.

It is indeed still going on, plus there is an old twist to a new scam - remember those emails from Kenya, well apparently they have now resorted to the old fashioned post and those letters are showing up in mail boxes.

Chemgal, I can't speak for what the residence staff did in BC but I can say that in our case even informing the residents, both verbally and with a posting on our bulletin board, was not enough.  Even after all the warnings some residents, even the high functioning, almost fell prey ... why, because most people can't believe that they can be targets. 

I heard one of those calls and the perps were smooth, it was understandable how one could fall for it.  The reason it failed in our home was because we are small and closely knit.  Residents and staff alike quickly pick up on distress, even if it is not communicated.  We ask questions and our residents trust us enough to answer.  And the couriers, well, they have to get past me ;-)

The best defense is for people to talk to each other; to feel comfortable discussing these matters.  That can only happen in a place of trust and with our seniors trust is built by respecting their independence even if they make an error in judgement.  Denying their independence will only make them more vulnerable.

We always see our worst selves. Our most vulnerable selves. We need someone else to get close enough to tell us we’re wrong. Someone we trust.
     David Levithan, Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List