<sigh> this is how my week went. No joke, this happened to me.
I personally got sucked into a scam I would like to share, and I hope that you will forward this to anyone you care about-especially senior citizens-who might be future victims. It is a well-thought-out and very effective rip-off.
SHORT VERSION
Someone calls and tells you that you have won a new car from a sweepstakes or a contest that you have entered, or a casino. You think it’s probably a scam, but the caller says that they are going to send a salesperson from the local dealership that carries that car line, and show you the car right in your driveway.
A salesperson from that dealership shows up, with the new car, MSRP stickers still on it, tells you how nice is it, what a great thing to get, etc. You love the car, they even sent it to you in your favorite color.
All you have to do is pay the tax, title and delivery fees on the car, anywhere from $3000-6000 dollars, depending on the value/make/model of car you won. Voile’, you get a new BMW in your driveway for $5k, great!
IT IS A SCAM, IT ISN’T GOING TO HAPPEN, THEY WILL STEAL YOUR $5k AND YOU WILL NEVER SEE THAT MONEY AGAIN,PERIOD
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LONG VERSION This is a real chronology from the week of Feb 26-Mar2, 2012. I sell cars for a BMW dealership in California, and this is how the story unfolded.
Monday, Feb. 26th I get a phone call from a guy in Florida who admits he has an unusual request. He and his wife want to buy his father a new BMW, but they want to make sure he likes the color and equipment. It’s happened before, I’m thinking this could be a car deal. They ask about my inventory (father likes black cars) and pick out a car. They ask me to drive the car out to him and show it to him with one interesting stipulation; they don’t want father to know that they are buying it for him. OK, that’s a little odd, so I ask, “Why should I tell him I am showing him this car?”
“Hmm, lets see. Why don’t you tell him he may have won it in a contest? Once he sees the car and approves the color/equipment, I will fly out there, because I want to videotape the look on his face when he gets it and realizes we bought it for him”. Yes, there is a lot wrong with this conversation but it was actually a very long conversation, and took several phone calls to work out the details, including getting his wife to approve the price of the car, when they could fly out, etc. I have his phone number, and have called him several times, and he always answers. Hey, it’s raining outside, no customers are showing up today, I run the scenario past my manager. Our biggest concern is that if it’s a scam, I might show up at an address and get carjacked, etc. So I give him the exact location I am taking the car to, and my estimated return time in case things go south.
I have the telephone number of the man who wants to see the car in his driveway, I call him, verify who he is and that he will be home, and ½ an hour later I am in his driveway in a shiny new BMW. I’m feeling better about the potential for this to be a real sale. It’s a nice part of town, and this is the nicest 82 year old gentleman I have ever met. He is taking care of his wife, who is dying of Alzheimer’s disease. I’m thinking that he has a great kid, buying him a car like this. He loves the car, doesn’t have any questions, half an hour later I am back safely in the dealership. The original caller (who identified himself as Mr. Bradley) calls me back, and works out a delivery date for March 2nd when he is flying into town. I mark the car sold, looks like a done deal. End of that story. I’m really happy for the 82-year-old, the guy is an angel taking care of his wife and deserves this.
Tuesday, Feb 27th I’m off. I stay home and relax, the weather is better so I get some yard work done.
Wednesday, Feb 29th When I get to work in the morning, there is a message on my desk phone. Some guy who says he is Charles Mitchell from the Consumer Protection Agency wants me to call him back. I call the number, Charles Mitchell answers. Seems that I have won 2nd place in the American Sweepstakes Contest, and they have sent me several pieces of mail at my home address and I have not responded. What do I need to do to get my money? I need to send Lloyds of London .05% of the winnings ($2250) to insure the transaction. He gives me Lloyd’s of London’s phone number and also the number of the American Sweepstakes people in Las Vegas so that I can verify this information and pay Lloyd’s of London the insurance money. Cool, I just won $450,000 in a sweepstakes I never entered. Yeah, right, an OBVIOUS SCAM. This pisses me off, frankly, and because I have a recorded message from the guy, and a phone number that works, I call the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC says they will note the complaint, but will not pursue it, so they tell me to call the Calif Attorney General’s office.
The CA AG’s office blows me off as well, they don’t have staffing for it. San Diego PD’s Financial Crimes unit also blows me off, saying the caller is probably out of state and therefore out of their jurisdiction. They say the people to call are the FBI, “But frankly, sir, they aren’t going to do much about a complaint like this. Just be glad you did not send them any money”. I’m pretty upset that no one wants to go after a crook when I have a recorded message on my phone (which is still there by the way, if someone wants to legally pursue this). But that’s that, I need to get back to work and sell some cars to make a living. Still, I’m pretty miffed all day that someone would call me at work and try to rip me off for $2250. That kind of stuff usually only happens in email letters from Nigeria. But crap, I could really use that $450,000…
March 1 Ok, Feb is over, a new month. I’m at my desk, checking my appointments, tomorrow is the day Mr. Bradley is supposed to fly in and surprise his son with the new bimmer. I give him a call to verify what time he will meet me. I dial the number. Mr Bradley answers, but instead of just answering ‘hello’, he answers “American Sweepstakes”.
It takes a half second to sink in. Two separate phone conversations on 2 different days…I knew that scam #2 was a scam immediately, but now one phone number is tying in one scam with the other.
Unholy expletives explode from my mouth. Not only is this guy trying to scam one of the nicest grandfathers I’ve ever met, he USED ME TO MAKE IT APPEAR LEGITIMATE! I am enraged, (and feeling stupid), I want to vent, I want to strangle the guy on the other end of the phone…but I NEED to call the old guy.
I hang up and immediately call the man who I showed the car to in his driveway. He answers. I tell him I think he is being set up, has he given anyone any money in relationship to the car I showed him a couple of days ago? He says “I have not given them a dime”. I am relieved; I would hate to have been part of the conspiracy to separate the guy from his money. He is obviously a lot smarter than I am; I’m the one doing all the legwork while everyone else was just sharing phone time.
I have to admit, it was a clever scam, and my unwitting part made it pretty convincing.
I’m writing this long story in hopes that you pass it on to anyone you know who might fall victim to this kind of thing. In these hard times, we would all like something good to fall in our laps, we would all like to hit the jackpot. And I hope that some of you do. But beware of those who would take advantage of our hope and use it against us.
Personally, I hope the scammers die the death of a thousand papercuts. I can’t even imagine how heartless they must be to prey on the elderly and infirmed. They aren’t brain surgeons, by the way. Somewhere they got my name confused, and tried to defraud me with a common phone scam, forgetting that I was a player in a different game they were running on someone else. I think that was just bad luck on their part and good luck for the guy I met who hadn’t yet sent them money. I was just the common denominator in two totally different scams that originated out of the same phone room, the two pieces sort of melding together.
Be careful people. Lots of bad guys still out there who want to take advantage of you.
