Driven to death by phone scammers

Comment #32

waltoy — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 22:56:00 GMT

This is so so sad

Comment #31

Volvo36 — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 17:02:22 GMT

I'm actually in tears for that mans family! Something has to be done

Comment #30

grwurston — Sun, 18 Oct 2015 19:31:19 GMT

Scammers take legitimate phone numbers and use them to disguise their numbers they are calling from.

They call you from out of state or over seas and the number on your caller Id is a local number.

What I like is when my phone rings and I look at my caller Id, and it's my own name and number on it. The bad thing then is, you can't call and report them. I don't know whether to laugh or get mad.

Comment #29

CSense — Sun, 18 Oct 2015 04:05:28 GMT

Excellent points. Another thing the Jamaica's area code can be used in this country too, as I found out when I got a call on my phone. I thought it was from Jamaica and track them down from an online website about scammers' calls. Found out they were right here in this country of all places. So there are scammers here too, who used area codes from other countries making people think that. Turned out on that particular website about phone scams, there's been tons of complaints about it. Soon as a... [ More ]

Comment #28

CSense — Sun, 18 Oct 2015 03:50:04 GMT

Than they should do that with Mexico/South America, Africa, Australia, Asia and Europe. A lot of scammers are from all over the world. I get emails that are so clever it take a person with common sense to see they're from scam artists. I even got one from a reputable USA company and contact them by sending that email to confirm whether they sent it or not. They replied the same day and said it's not them but scammers and thanks me for informing them about it. Read too many stories about American... [ More ]

Comment #27

temptustoo — Sat, 17 Oct 2015 16:26:01 GMT

We have scammers right here in the states.. LOOK AT ILLINOIS !!! FRAUD SCAM.......... SOME ONE NEEDS TO GO TO JAIL

Comment #26

PrisonerSix — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 01:35:57 GMT

Sad that it has to be that way these days. I for the most part am the same way. I only answer calls from my local area code, but now I'm getting scam calls from local numbers too.

Comment #25

PrisonerSix — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 01:32:32 GMT

I get some scammers on my cell phone, usually credit card scams. I've gotten the Microsoft scam at work a few times along with someone claiming to be from our IT department saying my computer is infected and they need me to do certain things to stop it. I know Microsoft won't call me and I know how our IT department handles infected PCs because something happened to me once that made me think my work PC might be infected, and they didn't handle it the way these people wanted to. In fact, I had t... [ More ]

Comment #24

Get paid — Fri, 09 Oct 2015 19:07:12 GMT

Very sad story,if ur number is not in my contacts,u won,t get an answer you will have to leave a voice mail.I,m very aware of this perticular scam.

May their souls rot in hell.

Comment #23

dawning — Fri, 09 Oct 2015 10:21:03 GMT

Have watching some videos about these Jamaican scammers and it really make me mad to know that even Jamaican government is not able to eliminate these scammers from the country. They say that when they arrest those scammers, it just takes 1 or 2 days before they go out of jail. Yeah, they have so much money. Paying bail is not a hard thing.

Comment #22

jarasan — Fri, 09 Oct 2015 00:29:27 GMT

Good advice GR.

Comment #21

grwurston — Fri, 09 Oct 2015 00:18:34 GMT

A lot of the sweepstakes letters saying you have won XXX amount of dollars come from the midwest, Kansas, Nebraska area. Once you mail in one entry you will be guaranteed to get dozens every month.

A lot of them ask you to order things, similar to Publishers Clearing House. So, if you have older family members suddenly giving you items that they say they mail-ordered or bought online, it is a dead giveaway they are falling for these scammers. KEEP stressing that the sweepstakes are BS and

Comment #20

Artist77 — Fri, 09 Oct 2015 00:01:24 GMT

This is so sad. I saw a dateline episode a few years ago and this woman who had been scammed online, was asked why she did not know it was a scam. She responded by saying well they contacted ME out of all the people in the world. And she looked to be in her 40's.

My land line rings multiple times a day (based on the caller id) but I rarely pick up and don't use voice mail on it. When I do pick up, the caller hangs up or some charity asks me for money. Last time I picked up, this woman ad... [ More ]

Comment #19

duckman — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 22:50:27 GMT

Usually I don't even bother to answer these calls but when I've got some extra time, I will. Had one scammer keep calling (have call block so it doesn't even ring, but does record the call in Caller ID, he called about 25 times), so I unblocked his number so the next time he called and I was home, it was fun time Long story short, he never called back again...

Comment #18

myturn — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 22:31:41 GMT

The Aussies would just divert the calls to New Zealand!

LOL

Comment #17

myturn — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 22:21:05 GMT

Consumers are so infuriated with robocalls that when we called for volunteers to try out three widely used robocall blocker devices plus Nomorobo s call-blocking technology, more than 130 people responded. We asked each person to install the call blocker that we sent them, monitor the number of robocalls that got through for four days, then disengage it and compare the results. We also asked them to describe how easy it was to set up the robocall blocker.

Some of the devices offer a blacklis... [ More ]

Comment #16

zephbe — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 21:39:22 GMT

Why do they talk to people they do not know

Comment #15

RJOh — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 21:05:59 GMT

There are scammers all over. The letter I got saying I've won a jackpot and they needed $15 handling fee was from Kansas. The call I got from some women saying I was getting my final warning about the IRS filing a lawsuit against me and I should call some department sounded very American. Most of the calls I get are from scammers in the state.

The thing I hate about the SOBs is they ring the phone all day but not long enough for me to get to it before they hang up. They call old folks and exp... [ More ]

Comment #14

music* — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 20:55:12 GMT

Thank You Todd for posting this about scamming. Especially when a Lottery winner is targeted by scammers, crooks, distant relatives and not to distant family members.

When Andrew Jackson Jack Whitaker said, Do not give any of your winnings away because once you give it away then they will never stop.

Some past winners have run out of their winnings and when they tried to tell that to the freeloaders, scammers, thieves, the criminals would not believe it. The winners would be threatened

Comment #13

Stack47 — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 20:40:53 GMT

It becomes an obsession and not all that much different than a gambler trying to recoup their losses. But with this scam, it's impossible to ever recoup the losses. Albert Poland was in denial and wanted to prove to his wife and son that he really did win more than $2 million. The sad part is he opted for suicide when he finally realized he won nothing.

Comment #12

haymaker — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 17:55:27 GMT

@ duckman,

Great stuff, LMAO, I hope I can remember all that when I get a call, although most time I don't answer the phone less I know who it is.

Reminds me of a time a telemarketer had the unfortunate luck of catching me when I had nothing to do, very unusual.

Long story short, I kept them on the phone trying to waste their time for so long that I finally asked, why don't you give up ?

He said they were not allowed to do that. LMAO

Comment #11

Coin Toss — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 15:20:20 GMT

It's really odd that these people amass the amounts of money they did yet still get scammed.

Why would anyone think they won a lottery they didn't play or a sweepstakes they didn't enter

Comment #10

Bleudog101 — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 15:01:00 GMT

My late Dad use to get suckered into scammers all the time. The worst was a woman who had him get credit cards for her and she racked up some serious charges. She got away with it, but I'm a firm believer in Karma..she'll get hers. Too bad I live in KY and he was in Olympia, WA. He would also fall for those lottery jacka$$es and I told him that was illegal and he just laughed. He was getting Alzheimers.

Too bad banks, post offices, what have you weren't required to be more involved in their c... [ More ]

Comment #9

Raven62 — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 14:57:43 GMT

If nothing else they could get them to Call Australia instead of the United States.

Comment #8

dallascowboyfan — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 13:51:53 GMT

Such a sad story, glad they arrested the perp(s) nice to know Sanjay will spend 40 years in prison. Thanks to the families for sharing their stories.

Comment #7

JezzVim — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 12:17:10 GMT

Call Block......Use it. I do all the time. I get those calls, and trust me, they never call back!

I know older parents and friends don't want to seem feeble, but sometimes it your duty to step in and protect them from things like this.

Some grew up in a different era where trusting what they hear and see was normal. These are not normal times.

Emails? I report them.

If more people would report those emails as Spam the better off we all would be.

I feel sorry for his wife, shame... [ More ]

Comment #6

Gleno — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 10:47:25 GMT

Sad story,

If you can install a robo call blocker on your phone then it's a great feature, and highly recommended.

Check with your phone provider to see if they offer this feature or check on line.

It will save you from answering the numerous calls that are made through out the day and night.

If you can't install the robo blocker then at a minimum ,a caller ID device, is another tool to screen your calls.

Don't rely on the Federal Government to protect you because it's not goin... [ More ]

Comment #5

myturn — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 10:02:53 GMT

The Federal Government should call on the Jamaican Government to shut down these scam artists. If they don't, just block all calls from that country, they would act very fast then.

Comment #4

hearsetrax — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 09:38:10 GMT

Comment #3

maximumfun — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 08:28:24 GMT

wow. that is a saddening article. just wow.

Comment #2

duckman — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 05:34:00 GMT

This happens all too often. The low-lifes who perpetuate these scams prey on the most vulnerable.

Once again, the golden rule to avoid being the victim of a scam is if an offer requires even one cent to claim a prize there is a 100% chance it is a scam. Rule #2 is to treat ALL unsolicited phone calls and emails as 100% scams.

It's fun sometimes to play around with these guys. When time permits, getting these guys on the phone and stringing them along can make the day go better.

Comment #1

sanman$ — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 04:13:58 GMT

I recently received one of those letters telling me that I won nineteen million dollars that I had to send them like twenty dollars to process my claim. I ripped it up through it in the garbage. I also get emails telling me that's rich guy died left me millions in his will that I needed to send them money from my bank account. I also get phone calls from Jamaicians pretending to be calling from Microsoft saying that my computer, laptop iPad have viruses that I had to send them three hundred doll... [ More ]

Driven to death by phone scammers

Lottery Post — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 02:08:48 GMT

The phone calls wouldn't stop.

The man on the other end of the line made promises of a big payoff: millions of dollars in prize money. But first the IRS needed $1,500 in taxes, he insisted, then the jackpot would arrive at the family home, a camera crew ready to capture the excitement.

The calls came a couple of times a day; other times, nearly 50.

Mr. Albert, we need the money to be sent today ...

Don't hang up the phone, Mr. Albert ...

Mr. Albert, don't tell your wife about this... [ More ]