Q: What does $9000 look like in a box?
A:
Trying to make this a short version if possible. My Brother-in-Law has some neurological issues. He used to live with my Mother-in-Law until she passed this past March. In the will, she left him the house. So, he obviously lives alone now. He's been working at the local grocery store for 20+ years now, and my wife (he's her brother) has sort of been a guide post along the way to keep him from falling off a cliff. He wants to do everything for himself but we're not quite convinced he's real-world reliable. He's on meds, and sometimes he forgets to take them. He's a good soul, but a trusting one. Too trusting. Now that he's by himself, it's tougher to keep check on him. My wife and I go visit him periodically, but not as often as when we were taking care of her mom.
THUS- this all started last Monday. We've been dealing with this since we found out ourselves on Thanksgiving. He gets one of those calls from a scammer saying that he could be in deep trouble and go to jail because his name was involved with identity theft, etc., etc., and they're from the social security office and all that.
Monday he goes to the bank following the scammer's instructions. He takes out $9,000 and wraps it with foil and bubble wrap, and puts it in a box WITH THE CASH WITHDRAWL RECEIPT!!! He UPS's it overnight to some address in Westminster, California. A James Xu for the name. They would "open up a new bank account for him and protect his money." At any rate, he mails that, then the scammers call back on Tuesday, and he is talked into buying gift cards from various places. It helps to put his money into gift cards so his cash is "safe" they said. He got a Target one and a Best Buy, then he "fugged up" and got Autozone gift cards. Little did he know at the time, that was a good thing. He rubs off all the pin codes on the cards and reads them off to the scammers.
He called us Wednesday the 27th to check a phone number for him. I checked it, and it was a scammer number. We immediately started asking him whether he talked to anyone at that number. He told us (lied) he did not. We warned him about scammers and how they work. I guess he got all freaked out because 11:45 Wed night, we awoke to him calling us and telling us PART of what was going on. We were going over there for Thanksgiving anyway, so we said we'll be over then. Not much we could do on a holiday.
On Thursday, I check all his cards for a balance and yup, sure enough, the Best buy and Target are empty. But the AutoZone cards are still full. So he gives me a tracking number for the box, and for whatever reason, it was shown to be attempted to be delivered on Wednesday around 10:30 AM California time. But it got refused by addressee and RETURN TO SENDER! Had a different UPS tracking number, but there it was. Same weight. Could it be? Scheduled delivery for 12/03. I checked the number last night and it was in Greensboro, NC.
So we wait. I started discussions with Auto Zone and they were able to get the money OFF the 3 original cards, but now they're dragging feet on returning store credit or cash. Waiting on corporate. That's another story, but at least the scammers don't have it.
This morning, just for the heck of it, I wanted to see if it was moving. So I checked the tracking number again. Delivered at 10:17 AM inside. WTF? I contacted UPS as to WHERE did it go because my BIL did not see it outside his door or anything. The wife goes and gets him and when UPS finally figures out where it is, they said it was at the same location (UPS Store) he mailed it from.
They get there, and the box was there, and the lady at the store said some guy from California just called and said to return it to him. My wife was saying don't mail it. We can get the sheriff up here and straighten things out if needed. The woman says she had to prepare it to go back to California. But as LUCK WAS ON OUR SIDE- a guy that used to work with my wife who works for Homeland Security was working as a side job at the UPS store. My wife asked if there was anything that could be done. He said that the box was technically the property of the originating sender. The other lady relented. His name was on the box, so my BIL flipped out his ID and off he and my wife went with the box. Got it to the car and when they opened it, $$$$$. My wife sent me the above picture.
BULLET DODGED!!!!!!!!! Like a million to one shot that the box got refused on the scammer's end for some reason and lucked out like a big dog to be in the right place to intercept that sucker.
The best buy and Target cards are toast, so that was about $1,100.00 lost in total. The lesson could have cost much much more.
I wanted to put 19,000 in monopoly money in there and ask that they send me back a bank check for the 10,000 overage. Or take a picture of the 9,000 and include that in the box, and say oops, forgot to pack it. Maybe go buy a stack of condoms to put in the box to send and tell them to make sure to use plenty of lube as they pound each other in the arse. 🙂 My wife said to just leave it be. Forget the box ever happened. She said they would probably press charges and put ME in jail. 😲
It's true folks. Those scams work on people. I don't know how, don't know why, but they do. They prey on the trusting and scared. Don't let it happen to you or your family/friends.
A:
Trying to make this a short version if possible. My Brother-in-Law has some neurological issues. He used to live with my Mother-in-Law until she passed this past March. In the will, she left him the house. So, he obviously lives alone now. He's been working at the local grocery store for 20+ years now, and my wife (he's her brother) has sort of been a guide post along the way to keep him from falling off a cliff. He wants to do everything for himself but we're not quite convinced he's real-world reliable. He's on meds, and sometimes he forgets to take them. He's a good soul, but a trusting one. Too trusting. Now that he's by himself, it's tougher to keep check on him. My wife and I go visit him periodically, but not as often as when we were taking care of her mom.
THUS- this all started last Monday. We've been dealing with this since we found out ourselves on Thanksgiving. He gets one of those calls from a scammer saying that he could be in deep trouble and go to jail because his name was involved with identity theft, etc., etc., and they're from the social security office and all that.
Monday he goes to the bank following the scammer's instructions. He takes out $9,000 and wraps it with foil and bubble wrap, and puts it in a box WITH THE CASH WITHDRAWL RECEIPT!!! He UPS's it overnight to some address in Westminster, California. A James Xu for the name. They would "open up a new bank account for him and protect his money." At any rate, he mails that, then the scammers call back on Tuesday, and he is talked into buying gift cards from various places. It helps to put his money into gift cards so his cash is "safe" they said. He got a Target one and a Best Buy, then he "fugged up" and got Autozone gift cards. Little did he know at the time, that was a good thing. He rubs off all the pin codes on the cards and reads them off to the scammers.
He called us Wednesday the 27th to check a phone number for him. I checked it, and it was a scammer number. We immediately started asking him whether he talked to anyone at that number. He told us (lied) he did not. We warned him about scammers and how they work. I guess he got all freaked out because 11:45 Wed night, we awoke to him calling us and telling us PART of what was going on. We were going over there for Thanksgiving anyway, so we said we'll be over then. Not much we could do on a holiday.
On Thursday, I check all his cards for a balance and yup, sure enough, the Best buy and Target are empty. But the AutoZone cards are still full. So he gives me a tracking number for the box, and for whatever reason, it was shown to be attempted to be delivered on Wednesday around 10:30 AM California time. But it got refused by addressee and RETURN TO SENDER! Had a different UPS tracking number, but there it was. Same weight. Could it be? Scheduled delivery for 12/03. I checked the number last night and it was in Greensboro, NC.
So we wait. I started discussions with Auto Zone and they were able to get the money OFF the 3 original cards, but now they're dragging feet on returning store credit or cash. Waiting on corporate. That's another story, but at least the scammers don't have it.
This morning, just for the heck of it, I wanted to see if it was moving. So I checked the tracking number again. Delivered at 10:17 AM inside. WTF? I contacted UPS as to WHERE did it go because my BIL did not see it outside his door or anything. The wife goes and gets him and when UPS finally figures out where it is, they said it was at the same location (UPS Store) he mailed it from.
They get there, and the box was there, and the lady at the store said some guy from California just called and said to return it to him. My wife was saying don't mail it. We can get the sheriff up here and straighten things out if needed. The woman says she had to prepare it to go back to California. But as LUCK WAS ON OUR SIDE- a guy that used to work with my wife who works for Homeland Security was working as a side job at the UPS store. My wife asked if there was anything that could be done. He said that the box was technically the property of the originating sender. The other lady relented. His name was on the box, so my BIL flipped out his ID and off he and my wife went with the box. Got it to the car and when they opened it, $$$$$. My wife sent me the above picture.
BULLET DODGED!!!!!!!!! Like a million to one shot that the box got refused on the scammer's end for some reason and lucked out like a big dog to be in the right place to intercept that sucker.
The best buy and Target cards are toast, so that was about $1,100.00 lost in total. The lesson could have cost much much more.
I wanted to put 19,000 in monopoly money in there and ask that they send me back a bank check for the 10,000 overage. Or take a picture of the 9,000 and include that in the box, and say oops, forgot to pack it. Maybe go buy a stack of condoms to put in the box to send and tell them to make sure to use plenty of lube as they pound each other in the arse. 🙂 My wife said to just leave it be. Forget the box ever happened. She said they would probably press charges and put ME in jail. 😲
It's true folks. Those scams work on people. I don't know how, don't know why, but they do. They prey on the trusting and scared. Don't let it happen to you or your family/friends.
