Scammers Articles and News

Guy takes scammer on an epic adventure that involved a priest, exorcism and a gift card

That will probably be the scammers last scam for a while.

Guy makes up elaborate story when scammer messages him

Scammers are going to scam. This seems to be something that has rung true since the dawn of time and they just get more sophisticated with technology. If you're on social media platforms like Facebook, then you've inevitably seen friend's and loved ones lose their accounts to hackers or witnessed a scammer try to pretend to be them.

Usually people just alert others and move on from the experience but wouldn't it be fun to give them a run for their money while they try to take yours? Jeremy Roberts decided to do just that when his mom, Tami's Facebook profile was recently cloned by scammers. He took the potential scammer on a adventure with more twists and turns than a mystery novel.

The exchange started off innocent enough with the scammer writing, "Hello How are you doing," in messenger, not realizing that the message was being sent to Tami's son.

Roberts immediately engages pretending that he has no idea that he's not talking to the real Tami. By the next question, the scammer was asking for a favor from Roberts but before "Tami" can ask, Roberts asserts that he's busy with his brother Doug who thinks he's possessed b a demon. The brothers are supposedly on their way to meet with a priest to check out Doug's demon possession.

Jeremy Roberts|Facebook

You'd think hearing of a demon possession would make "Tami" pause. Instead the scammer posing as Tami continued right into their spiel about a "program" called Community Trust Foundation, but Roberts doesn't bite, he sticks to his bit about his brother being possessed. "Tami" sees an opening after Roberts says the priest sent him to the store for a crucifix and Pepto, though priest generally come equipped with their own crucifix.

Instead of being concerned about the potentially possessed brother or why a priest preparing to do an exorcism didn't have his own crucifix, "Tami" asked Roberts to buy Apple gift cards to upgrade their phone camera since he was in the store anyway. The scammer is persistent if nothing else. Of course Roberts agrees but continues to string the scammer along with the urgency of getting back to his possessed brother.

Jeremy Roberts|Facebook

After so much back and forth, the scammer got comfortable enough to start answering Roberts' random questions about the best type of medicine for an upset stomach. Eventually Roberts informed "Tami" that a demon was confirmed by the priest and he needed to get back to Doug. The entire time the persistent scammer kept asking about a $200 gift card while simultaneously answering questions about Doug's presumed possession. Shortly after Roberts posted the interaction, it quickly went viral and commenters can't get over the elaborate story and the scammer's persistence.

"That is the best exchange ever. That smoooooth transition for the gift card request," someone writes.

"Scamming someone and trying to cast out demons. Nope, Satan can't cast out Satan," another says.

"My 14 year old and I were screaming laughing “a picture of the demon?” Snort.," one woman laughs.

The entire exchange is so comical that you'd have to read the entire thing to get the full effect and the ending was definitely a jump scare, not to the reader but probably for the scammer.

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Heroes

People with dementia might be in danger from telephone scams. The U.K.'s got a neat fix.

Richard Guthrie, 92, said he took the scammer's phone calls because he was lonely.

In 2007, the New York Times covered a spate of phone scams targeting the elderly. Guthrie, a widower and Purple Heart veteran, was one of them. In the end, he lost all of his savings — including the money he was planning to give to his great-grandkids for college — to telephone scams.

Unfortunately, Guthrie's case isn't unique. Senior citizens lose about $2.9 billion each year (each year!) from financial scams and abuse, according to a 2011 report by MetLife.

Image via iStock.

There are a number of reasons scammers target the elderly. They often have savings, for instance, and can be reluctant to contact the authorities if they are victims.

Even more dastardly, scammers often target people with dementia. The medical condition hits more than 1 in 20 seniors, taking a heavy toll on them and their caretakers — before having to worry about scammers.

So wouldn't it be great if there were a simple solution to all this?

The United Kingdom has a pretty interesting idea on how to stop the calls altogether.

On April 6, the U.K. announced it would fund the rollout of a call-blocking device to about 1,500 people, according to the The Guardian.

The small device, known as trueCall, plugs in between a phone and wall outlet. Once installed, it can block recorded messages, silent calls, or calls from unknown numbers.

The initial rollout will go to people such as dementia patients who have been identified by their doctor as especially vulnerable.

“We have seen people tricked out of thousands of pounds by scam callers, and this government is determined to clamp down on their activities once and for all,” Prime Minister Theresa May said while announcing the fund.

This is could be a big "take that!" at granny-defrauding, savings-stealing scammers.

Nobody deserves to have their life savings whittled away — not people who should be entering their golden years, like Guthrie, and especially not people and families who are already shouldering the toll dementia can take.

Hopefully, this new solution will help those 1,500 families breathe a little easier.

scammers

People with dementia might be in danger from telephone scams. The U.K.'s got a neat fix.

Richard Guthrie, 92, said he took the scammer's phone calls because he was lonely.

The United Kingdom has a pretty interesting idea on how to stop the calls altogether.

This is could be a big "take that!" at granny-defrauding, savings-stealing scammers.

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