My 84 year old mother in law fell prey to a 438-scam today. My nephew was not a choirboy as a teenager, and though he is cleaned up and a good kid now, someone used his past to get to my MIL. They called her and armed with all kinds of shit about my nephew, told her he was in jail and needed $2400 for bail. "Nephew" begged her not to say anything to his parents, and told her he wanted to tell his mom and dad in person because he knew he would be letting them down. She rushed out and wired the money to MEXICO CITY (why this was not a red flag I do not know since he lives in Houston). They called AGAIN right after she got home and hit her up for ANOTHER $2400 for a lawyer, even praising her for her quick response. And she did it. AGAIN.
THEN they called her back asking for $10,000!!! Fortunately by then the banks were closed, but they told her he would stay in jail until she could wire the money. She worried and cried all day until she finally broke down and called me. She was distraught at having failed him. Of course, that left me with the horrid job of telling her she just got scammed, and her money was gone.
According to the innerwebs, the 438 scams trace to a Quebec phone scam ring, and because each transaction is under $5000, the FBI will not do anything.
Now the entire family is in freak out mode, other than my husband and me. Her daughter (my SIL) thrives on drama and this will feed her for months. I hate to think of how postal my SIL is going to go on my MIL. Even worse, my niece who works at a law firm talked to my MIL about this VERY THING not six months ago when it nearly happened to her busband's grandmother. But my MIL fell for it anyway.
The only good thing is that my MIL is well to do, and while painful, a $5000 loss is not financially devastating.
So I guess the only thing I can do is remind y'all who are my age and older to talk to your elderly relatives and make them aware that there are fucking pieces of shit who do horrid things to older people, and that will one day die a painful death and rot in hell forever.