Public Service Announcement

I am posting this video as a Public Service Announcement, those of you in the USA will be familiar with PSA. Although at first glance, when you view this video, you may erroneously believe none of this could possibly pertain to you or those you love. However, TRUST ME! Watch the video to the very end. Don't be fooled by the opening. You will see how it needs to be views by all. There are multiple scams presented, so if at first you think I am wrong, wait it out and you will be surprised at just how important this video is to your life.


One disclaimer: My massage therapist, Gabor Pal would never run any of these scams on anyone. 

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Scam Alert

It is too late for my father, who is now in debt to the tune of $170,000, but others may benefit from this information. Much of the money he is in debt for is due to his open heart. He opened his heart to a welfare mother and her children back in 2000. She had run the gambit and bled dry every social service agency in a three county area. She found my father because he was volunteering with the local St. Vincent de Paul Society. Pleading her case, he could not see her go homeless with two young children and allowed them to move in temporarily. Ron and I met her when we first left the country and went to see my father to say good-bye. We did not know a thing until we arrived on his doorstep. We tried doing an intervention with the St. Vincent Society, but he would hear nothing of it. Stories of her infiltration into his life are at the beginng of this blog, in the 2001 archives. This lasted for about seven years. Each time he had to go to the hospital, which was often, she made herself at home using his credit cards. One lesson my parents drummed into us was to maintain your credit rating. Ironically, this was my father's downfall. His excellent credit rating meant above average spending limits. Once he discovered the theft, he refused to take any action other than obtain a confession from his live-thief with a lame promise never to do it again. My brother and I warned, begged, pleaded, and even cut ourselves off from him and them, erroneously thinking that he would want us more than her. He received no secondary gains from sharing his home with her. He cooked for her children while she partied with an assortment of boyfriends, he made sure the kids made it to school when she was too 'tired' to get up and be a mother. He made his bedroom in the dining room, so she and each of the children could have their own rooms. It was not until late 2008 that he finally saw the light and sent her packing. Having no where else to go, her brother who is a police captain, sent her train tickets to TN, though reluctantly. Her brother and father knew the cloth from which she was cut; they did not want much to do with her either. Just when the coast was clear, the Jamaicans set in with their phone scam. After doing a Google search, there are numerous reports, complaints, warnings, and confessions. Yet, the legal system is powerless being they are offshore. Here is a link to an AARP newsletter from 2008. It most likely will not make an ounce of difference with stubborn people, but it is worth trying. Scam Alert Caribbean Calls—A Double Whammy http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourmoney/scamalert/articles/scam_alert_caribbean_calls_a_double_whammy.html

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Scams - Not Only E-Mail Variety

This elderly parent thing has really turned things upside down. Not only are my brother and I having to parent our father, but my brother who is seven and a half years younger than I, is having to take the lead. The pyramid is balancing on the pinnacle, rather than the base. It was only a few months ago that I learned from my phone conversation with my father that he was being scammed by phone. He slipped one day, by telling me he was coming into a large amount of money, planned to pay off all of his debts, refurbish the house, and install new wall-to-wall carpeting. I believe I have addressed this issue here before, but it was not until now that I found out the severity of the situation. This had been going on for months. Hence, the checks we have been sending him to help pay his gas and electric bills, chip away at his credit card debt, has been going to Jamaica. We do not know anyone in Jamaica and we especially do not want to support anyone in Jamaica at this point in time. Our intent was to aid my father, not strangers with a funny accent. My brother shared that he thought he had nipped this whole thing in the bud, but months later discovered my father was sneaking behind his back like an untrustworthy teenager and continuing to share his bank details. This forced the child brigade to shut down dad's checking account and reopen it with new account numbers, which I am not even sure he shared with my father. I would not blame him if he did not. He even bought an answering machine so my father would not have to answer the phone when the scammers called. He could monitor his calls. When I called and spoke to the machine, he told me it was because he could not lock his knee in time to stand steady to grab the phone. The machine did not stop the overseas communications though. Once he knew who was calling, he still picked up the phone, whether it was a familiar voice or a Caribbean accent. Sending money may have been a way to appease my guilt over not being there to assist, but in this day and age, who can afford to rip up a life that has been deeply rooted, watered, and nurtured. This is not the life plan I had mapped out, but circumstances created something that exceeded my expectations and I am grateful. If sending a check is my only way to assist, then at least I am thankful we are able to do it. It seems to me though, the Jamaicans should care for their own and leave my father out of this. My brother checked into reporting it to the NJ Attorney General or local authorities. No one seems to have any authority considering the country. They will willing take the report, but there are no teeth to take a bite out of the crime.

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Elderly Parent

I called my father for our bi-monthly chat and to say good-bye as we leave for vacation. He has been in a quandary over what to do about his house. He has thought of bankruptcy, selling it, and a reverse mortgage. The heartbreaker is that the house was paid off. However, due to his lonliness, he took in a woman and her two children back in 2001. Little did he know then that she was taking him in, for every red cent he had. This was not a sexual relationship; she had burned through all social service agencies in the tri-county area, so she needed someone to feed off of and my father was the perfect target being a new widower. Regardless of the protests my brother and I put up, he refused to let her go or actually to kick her out. He continued to feel sorry for her and especially the children. He cared more for the kids than she did. Each time he was hospitalized, she took his credit cards and went on a buying spree: without his knowledge or consent.. However, he refused to do anything about it. This happened repeatedly. Now we has gone from being debt free to owing $176,000. This is not the new news that I received from this phone call. I had known this for some time. What shocked me on this call was his incredibly upbeat mood when he shared with me that he is in line to win a million dollars from the West Indies. Upon hearing this news, I felt like someone had reached down my throat, grabbed me by the toes and pulled me inside out. My father, my intelligent father has fallen for this scam. Maintaining my calm, trying not to pop his bubble with the first pin prick, I gently offered that I receive scam letters via the e-mail on a daily basis. With this, he admitted that he received them in the postal mail and tosses them, but this was a phone call, so it was different. Stay calm, stay calm! Venturing slowly, I asked if he had given any credit card information or bank account numbers, but he only responded with laughter. Repeating the question did not produce any better answers than the first go round. Trying a different tactic, I asked if my brother knew? He said he did and told dad to be careful. When I reiterated about the account information, dad said he had very little in the checking account and most of his credit cards were maxed out anyway. If these scammers had done their homework, they should have noticed this is a poor time investment. Though we do send him monthly checks, I hate to think it is going to the West Indies or anywhere, but toward his bills. As long as he is fluid of mind, the Elder Abuse people are powerless to intervene. We have tried that before when the vixen did her dirty deeds using his account. This will all have to play out on its own.

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