Following are a few Webster definitions of a con artist: A person adept at lying, cajolery, or glib self-serving talk. A person adept at swindling by means of confidence games; swindler. Someone who makes a living by swindling people.
One of the most vulnerable demographics of a con artist, and is increasing exponentially, are our seniors. If you are a senior, or caring for an aging loved one, I want to share an incident that happened to a friend’s mother, and most recently to my mother-in-law, using my own daughter as bait.
Con artists are clever, and I am not sure if what happened was a result of research on my family, which is scary, or the fishing ability of the criminal. My mother-in-law received a call from a young girl claiming to be my daughter. I do not know, and my M-I-L cannot recall, if they already knew my daughter’s name, or if called her by name responding to “Grandma, is that you?” She was crying and asking grandma to wire her $2000 as she had gone south of the border with friends and was in a Mexican prison and needed the money for bail. Please, please don’t tell mom and dad the young voice pleaded. I’ll tell them everything when I get home. Well, contrary to the unfortunate result of my friend’s encounter, my mother-in-law refused and insisted on calling us, mentioning that my wife was an attorney and could help. Of course, at that point in sharing of information with the attempted con, there was a loud click as they quickly hung up. My mother-in-law, still shaken, called my wife to share the emergency situation. My wife answered her cell, on hands free headset of course, while driving to Northern California with my daughter safely asleep in the back seat.
Moral of the story, unfortunately, is don’t trust anyone you don’t already know. Share this story with seniors, children, and friends alike. Scams are everywhere out there, and let’s educate rather than be victims.
Myles McNamara is the owner of Comfort Keepers In-Home Care, and works with seniors and their families regarding aging issues. He can be reached at 661 287-4200.