United States Embassy

Victim Location 18969

Type of a scam Family/Friend Emergency

My senior mother, received an emergency phone call from a Mr. Harris, claiming to be a police officer, stating her grandson was involved in a car accident involving damage to another car in Cancun, Mexico. He had travelled to Cancun too attend a friend’s wedding. He was being held in a jail in Cancun, until a payment of $2,000 was received to pay for the damages. A young man claiming to be her grandson talked to her stating his nose was broke in (3) places. When she asked why his voice sounded strange, he told my mother that was because his lip was split open. The young man, said his insurance company would reimburse her in (3) days but, he needed to return home. When she asked how to get the money to help him, Mr. Harris got back on the phone and told her to go the the local Walmart and get (2) Money Cards in the amount of $1,000 each. Mr. Harris would call back later to give her further instructions for mailing the cards after the transactions were completed at Walmart. My mother asked her neighbor to go to Walmart to purchase the money cards, but called me because he was very suspicious of the call. I then called my son, to confirm that he was not in Cancun, at work today, and absolutely, safe. The local police were notified of this scam as well as filing a scam complaint. After talking with my mother, I asked her what name the young man called her, she said, ‘Grandmom’, NOT the name her grandchildren use. Several red flags should have been noted during the phone calls; such as telling my mother not to call the her daughter, the young man’s mother or his father asking for emergency money, being injured and not being treated at a local medical facility and recalling our family always notifies each other of all travel plans. Scammers are taking advantage of elderly parents by using their emotions and their naivete of realizing how easy identify information is readily available to anyone familiar with online websites. Today, my mother did not lose any money from this scammer but, she could have. There is an urgent need to establish elderly senior awareness training classes to prevent all types of scamming.