It was drizzly on Tuesday morning's Open Market (Hawaii's term for Farmers Market).
We met our friend, Stanley who told us of an almost terrible scam that happened to him.
Stanley said he'd gotten a call from his grandson telling him that he'd been the cause of a terrible accident and was calling from the L.A. County Jail. He said his voice didn't sound like himself because he'd broken his nose in two places due to the accident.
He needed $1,700 right away by Western Union. He said Stanley could not reach him because he was in jail. His grandson did not want to worry his mother, but would tell her himself when he returned to Hawaii. He gave Stanley all the Western Union spots in our area where he could bring his money and said he would call him back to get the receipt number so the grandson would be able to collect the money.
Stanley went to the bank, got his money and rushed to the Western Union at Safeway supermarket as directed. The manager there was suspicious and insisted that Stanley call his grandson to make sure this was all legitimate. Although he didn't expect his grandson to answer since he never answered calls when he was at work, this time, he did and said he'd never been in an accident. Stanley and the manager then discovered that the address where the money was supposed to go to wasn't L.A. where his grandson was. It was Quito in Ecuador.
When he went home and the call from his supposed grandson came, Stanley asked, "Who are you anyway?
The person hung up immediately.
Stanley said he couldn't believe what a close call that was. It would have cost him $1,800 because the money transfer would have cost him an additional $100.
Stanley went out and bought a huge gift basket for that Safeway manager who saved him from being duped. Stanley said so many chance occurrences happened to prevent him from making this mistake that he felt it was Divine intervention.
After talking to Stanley for such a long time, we were a little late getting our produce and headed back to our car. As we were crossing that busy street where drivers rarely stop for shoppers (as by law they are supposed to) we noticed that the passenger of the driver who stopped for us was waving frantically at us. Very friendly, I thought and waved back. The person kept smiling and waving. I could barely make out who it was since it was rather cloudy and dark. Surprise! It was my good friend, DIANE!
In the four years that we've lived in Hawaii and gone to that Open Market, we've never seen Diane driving to work. There were a LOT of chance occurrences that had to happen for us to have this happy meeting with Diane.
I guess it was Fate or luck or who knows?
Happy Independence Day to my American readers! To remember what the 4th is all about, please go to Sylvia From Over the Hill before you go to watch the fireworks.
We met our friend, Stanley who told us of an almost terrible scam that happened to him.
Stanley said he'd gotten a call from his grandson telling him that he'd been the cause of a terrible accident and was calling from the L.A. County Jail. He said his voice didn't sound like himself because he'd broken his nose in two places due to the accident.
He needed $1,700 right away by Western Union. He said Stanley could not reach him because he was in jail. His grandson did not want to worry his mother, but would tell her himself when he returned to Hawaii. He gave Stanley all the Western Union spots in our area where he could bring his money and said he would call him back to get the receipt number so the grandson would be able to collect the money.
Stanley went to the bank, got his money and rushed to the Western Union at Safeway supermarket as directed. The manager there was suspicious and insisted that Stanley call his grandson to make sure this was all legitimate. Although he didn't expect his grandson to answer since he never answered calls when he was at work, this time, he did and said he'd never been in an accident. Stanley and the manager then discovered that the address where the money was supposed to go to wasn't L.A. where his grandson was. It was Quito in Ecuador.
When he went home and the call from his supposed grandson came, Stanley asked, "Who are you anyway?
The person hung up immediately.
Stanley said he couldn't believe what a close call that was. It would have cost him $1,800 because the money transfer would have cost him an additional $100.
Stanley went out and bought a huge gift basket for that Safeway manager who saved him from being duped. Stanley said so many chance occurrences happened to prevent him from making this mistake that he felt it was Divine intervention.
After talking to Stanley for such a long time, we were a little late getting our produce and headed back to our car. As we were crossing that busy street where drivers rarely stop for shoppers (as by law they are supposed to) we noticed that the passenger of the driver who stopped for us was waving frantically at us. Very friendly, I thought and waved back. The person kept smiling and waving. I could barely make out who it was since it was rather cloudy and dark. Surprise! It was my good friend, DIANE!
In the four years that we've lived in Hawaii and gone to that Open Market, we've never seen Diane driving to work. There were a LOT of chance occurrences that had to happen for us to have this happy meeting with Diane.
I guess it was Fate or luck or who knows?
Happy Independence Day to my American readers! To remember what the 4th is all about, please go to Sylvia From Over the Hill before you go to watch the fireworks.
Scary stuff.
ReplyDeleteHappy 4th!
wow, that was a close call, lovely chance meeting of a friend as well, very starnge day indeed.
ReplyDeleteHappy Fourth of july to you!!
Thank heavens he didn't transfer the money, which would have just been GONE. I wonder how many times this works and the thief walks away with it. I can see why he wanted to thank the manager, who saved him a lot of money. Happy Independence Day to you and yours, Kay! I always so enjoy your blog.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many of those scams going on these days. I'm so glad the manager was able to warn your friend about it and that things turned out okay.
ReplyDeleteHappy 4th to you and your family.
I talked to a woman who was involved in the same scam, but her story didn't have a happy ending...she DID transfer the money. Sadly, she's really struggling financially right now and this didn't help.
ReplyDeleteWe received one of those calls but I asked so many questions he hung up on me! My sister-in-law in Texas received one too. She was frantic for her granddaughter but finally collected herself enough to call her cell phone. The girl was at home in bed asleep.
ReplyDeleteHappy Serendipity-we all need to look out for each other...
ReplyDeleteThis is a very common scam right now on elderly people. Remember that seminar I attended last spring on elder fraud? That one was mentioned. It's not, though, believe it or not, the worse one out there. Older people are far too trusting. We all need to take a dose of skepticism each day.
ReplyDeleteAs P.T. Barnum once said, there's a sucker born every moment. That's what the grifters count on. Good thing your friend was smart. Hava a Happy Fourth. Dianne
ReplyDeleteWhat a chilling story! I am so glad it had a happy ending!
ReplyDeleteThere are so many scams going around. Your friend Stanley had a close call. Several days ago I got a call, supposedly from Microsoft, telling me that they had received several notices saying that my computer had many virus and that it would crash down soon. They had my name, address and said they had it from the time I purchased the computer, so I believed them. They wanted to get into my computer by phone to help me (!) but my computer was still in my suitcase since we had just come back from a trip so I told them to call me later. My daughter told me that Microsoft would not call me on a Saturday and it was a scam, they were trying to get into my computer to find out about my banking, etc. so I was lucky to have been slow emptying my suitcase!
ReplyDeleteThats scary..
ReplyDeleteI read your scam story to my husband, and we couldn't figure how the scammer could ever know about the relationship between both parties down to the precise location of the Western Union without ever knowing both of them personally. In this internet age, you don't have to know the person to know all about the person...the internet has way too much info like the many "people search" sites giving names and ages of everyone who once lived in your home. Now another thing to worry about...calls that feed on your worry, compassion or guilt using personal data culled from the internet. Yikes!!
ReplyDeleteL. from W.
gosh interesting and scary story about the scam Kay, thanks for sharing, it could happen to anyone!
ReplyDeleteYikes, that was a close call. Thanks for letting us know about this scam. You just can't be too careful these days. Thank goodness the person at Western Union got suspicious. Nice you saw your friend Diane. I rarely bump into friends but in the same week a while ago I saw a friend three times in as many days.
ReplyDeleteI got one of those grandfather-help-me-out scam calls once. This eager-beaver voice came on the telephone and said "I'm on a trip with my friends and we're going to Canada." He never got to the point of how much money he needed. Since I knew my grandson had spent a lot of time in the State of Vermont, I innocently (not having caught on yet) asked, "Oh, are you going by way of Vermont?" This semed to flummox the caller and the phone call soon deteriorated into the scammer just hanging up. How strange!
ReplyDeleteMe again, I told Gregg this story and he said there is some scam going on in our area charging over a thousand dollars to clean up fallen trees after all these storms we've been having, taking the money and without doing the work. They get a 'deposit' up front, that's how they get their scam to work.
ReplyDeleteso glad your friend wasn't scammed in the end. that Western Union guy was very helpful. it's a shame people always have to be on guard of those who are dishonest and try stealing one's hard earned money. may karma be swift in catching up with them. have a great night... Happy 4th to you & Art~
ReplyDeleteWe keep getting calls (which we do not answer) from 1-000-000-0000 or from Unknown Caller. I just know if we answered even one we would be hearing from a scammer of some sort. Your friend was so fortunate to have someone look out for him.
ReplyDeleteThese scams are way too scary.
ReplyDelete