My parents are being scammed!

[VEGASRIDER]

Any legal advice on what my sisters and I could do. My dad who is over 80 has lost a large amount of money to these email scams. Scammers are using email addresses that he recognizes thinking that they are from the people he thinks they are saying they need money for surgery, etc. He's actually wired 50K USD to the UK. And the list goes on.

My mother just goes along with it being the traditional japanese housewife, who is just as old.

We need to stop the bleeding. Power of attorney, something, any advice. My father thinks these emails are real, and he keeps responding to these scammers. Pretty much their retirement is gone I'm thinking.

 

[agf]

get the law involved as soon as you can, but setting up power of attorney for transactions over a certain amount may be a good way of still leaving your folks with the thought that they control their daily destiny but you and yours able to "help" with the big dealings that cause you the angst, Good Luck

 

[GTPAddict]

Whoops, hit the wrong button, don't think there's a reason for thanks here...

Man, I hate it for you and your parents, I really do. These predators feed on people that are trying to do the right thing. It's truly disgusting.

First thing I'd suggest is taking control of his email, seems that would be the easiest thing to do. At least that way maybe he won/t send any more money. You can try to talk him in to opening another account, in case there people have his bank information. Also, contact his bank, maybe they can do something. Legally I'm not sure you can do anything short of having a court find him incompetent, then you have to worry about how that will make your dad feel. To some that may be worse then loosing the money.

As far as getting your dad's money back, I don't know but I wish you and him the best of luck.

 

[AngelFZ]

Any legal advice on what my sisters and I could do. My dad who is over 80 has lost a large amount of money to these email scams. Scammers are using email addresses that he recognizes thinking that they are from the people he thinks they are saying they need money for surgery, etc. He's actually wired 50K USD to the UK. And the list goes on.

My mother just goes along with it being the traditional japanese housewife, who is just as old.

We need to stop the bleeding. Power of attorney, something, any advice. My father thinks these emails are real, and he keeps responding to these scammers. Pretty much their retirement is gone I'm thinking.

I'm sorry!!!!!

If you have access to your parents computer then only leave unblocked known email addresses as an initial attempt to stop new requests.
With the money transferred already unfortunately I do not know what could you do. Getting lawyers involved might get any positive results, unfortunately for the most part these scammers are very hard to trace.

Good luck!!!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Motogiro]

Ouch! Very sorry to hear this Kenny. Your father is still awesome. You need to protect them!

 

[mxgolf]

Wow that blows Kenny! You probably need to be there conservator. We have one for my brother so he can't spend all his money! If there is anything you need me to do please let me know. I do live super close to them. Really sorry to hear that. It sure would be nice to catch people like that! Good Luck there buddy.

 

[mikw73]

This is a terrible situation to have to deal with. I just listened to a caller to Clark Howard about a nearly identical situation. The options are not pretty. He said that the children can stage an intervention-like situation, and/or find someone the parent trusts and respects, and convince the parent that they're being swindled and that it has to stop. If that doesn't work, you have to start on getting the parent declared incompetent, and that gets ugly fast. I'd start by calling Clark Howard, or a fee-only financial advisor, which would cost a few bucks, but should be worth it.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

I may have to take a ride over to Portland. Thanks everyone, solid advice keep them coming. Blocking email, new email address, IP, etc are some simple solutions.

What's a conservator?

 

[lytehouse]

What's a conservator?

a guardian and protector appointed by a judge to protect and manage the financial affairs and/or the person's daily life due to physical or mental limitations or old age


Good Luck Kenny.....crappy situation to be in.

 

[Erci]

That's terrible. I don't have any advice to add.. just feel really bad for you and your folks

 

[callmegandhi]

Power of attorney!! Already mentioned but worth repeating. Change his bank account numbers, you don't know what else he gave these crooks!

 

[chuckfz6ryder]

Sucks to hear this. I don't know what to do, but I would get the state Atty. General involved. Whenever I hear about fraud cases on the news, that's usually who is involved. Good luck.

 

[greg]

the chances of getting any money back are slimn to none.

you need to put a stop to this now, if they don't have the mental faculties to understand what they are doing wrong, then they probably shouldn't be in charge of their own finances.

if they do understand, explain that that they need to identify and verify who people are before handing over money, even they they should think twice about lending huge sums of money, and they should definitely not being doing this over email. It only takes a minute to pick up a phone and verify the who you are talking with.

 

[QwickFliCk]

damn im sorry to hear this man! my sister got caught in one of these scams and lost more than $5k..i hate that there are people actually living to steal peoples money like cowards..real dirtbags! sad to say my sister never got the money back and owed the bank...

i wish we can hire a private detective and find these people and beat the day lights out of them and get the money back! problem solved! :sinister::spank:

 

[oldfast007]

Wow, sorry to hear about this! Intervention is it, go over shut it down period! I would rather have him pissed at me and still have some coin left than being bankrupt.
Then try your best to lovingly explain why your doing what your doing and put safeguards in place. (d.p.o.a) or something akin to it, whatever it takes, the longer it takes the more they loose! Wish there was a way fry the heartless pricks but mostly there untouchable.

Good luck!

 

[pookamatic]

Get the law involved, but don't count on the money being returned. Take control of his email, and set him up with a new, decent service (gmail). Give him a really difficult password to crack, but easy to remember.

xkcd: Password Strength

There are dozens if not hundreds of random passphrase generators out there.

Then:
Welcome to 419Eater

 

[Nappa]

I'm a little surprised that the bank is letting him do this. When I went to wire money for a auto purchase, the bank manager pulled me aside and asked me some questions to make sure I wasn't getting scammed.
Why aren't they doing this with your dad?

 

[Randomchaos]

Yikes! Sounds like limiting the email wouldn't help much since the emails are coming from supposed people he knows. Have you tried talking him into contacting those people via phone and ask them about it? Maybe prove to him somehow that he is being scammed. 99% sure the money is gone and never coming back. Contact the police so they can investigate it as well and try to catch the evil doers.

Also, this is a great website for when you have the time. Some people have REALLY screwed with these scammers. Will make ya feel better after reading some of it
Welcome to 419Eater

 

[Nelly]

Any legal advice on what my sisters and I could do. My dad who is over 80 has lost a large amount of money to these email scams. Scammers are using email addresses that he recognizes thinking that they are from the people he thinks they are saying they need money for surgery, etc. He's actually wired 50K USD to the UK. And the list goes on.

My mother just goes along with it being the traditional japanese housewife, who is just as old.

We need to stop the bleeding. Power of attorney, something, any advice. My father thinks these emails are real, and he keeps responding to these scammers. Pretty much their retirement is gone I'm thinking.

As already suggested set up a contacts only e-mail, anti spam and all the rest. How about linking your e-mail to your dads account so you can remove the scams. I have several e-mails routed to my Google account.
So sorry to here that they have lost so much.
If it were my folks I wouldn't feel happy to have to go the legal route for a couple of reasons.
A) You obviously love and respect your folks the legal route will damage that relationship.
B) American lawyers and judicial system would probably swallow the rest of his retirement and a good chunk of yours.

Nelly

 

[pookamatic]

I think VR said his dad was being tricked in part because the emails look like they're coming from people he knows. It appears as if the scammer has got a hold of his contact list. It would take a person of average IQ all of 3 minutes to spoof an email address.

New, nondescript email address on a new domain, with a tough password. Use the first letter of a phrase he likes to use.

"Take out the Damn garbage right now!" = TotDgrn!
"How does a tasty Knuckle Sandwich sound?" = HdatKSs?

Also, help him understand that no friend or family member would ask for money over email. Ever! If they really needed his help, they would call, write a real letter, or show up in person.