When Valerie shares the news with her adult daughters, they dont think much of it.
Our Prize Patrol shows up with their van with a big check, a bottle of champagne and flowers.
[00:00:28] It was almost like cultish.
It was like somebody had gotten into her brain.
[00:00:49] Will: Welcome back to AARP: The Perfect Scam Podcast.
Frank, how are you?
[00:01:02] Frank Abagnale: Great, good to be back.
[00:01:03] Will: Good to see you again, yes.
So I think this is a great resource.
I think it’s great that we can get these messages out to people.
[00:02:35] Frank Abagnale: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:02:36] Will: I’m sure you are.
[00:02:38] Will: Okay, are you ready for our, our story this week?
[00:02:41] Frank Abagnale: Absolutely.
Her name is Valerie.
Her kids are now scattered around the country.
Valerie’s daughter, Alison, owns an art gallery in Maine.
[00:03:57] Alison: She was in utero.
[00:04:11] Abbie: And she never remarried.
[00:04:12] Alison: She never remarried.
She did it, you know, she’s a really strong woman.
[00:04:15] Will: Who’s got time for a relationship with five or six kids?
[00:04:18] Alison: Exactly.
That’s a lot of money."
[00:05:50] Will: Abbie tells a similar story.
And so I didn’t think that she um, there was a scam.
It was around Christmastime.
She called my sister, Suzy, who then told me at Christmastime.
And then we were worried about like who she’s giving money to and why.
There was $10,000 increments being sent to Ohio, to this Francis Adams.
[00:07:10] Will: So Valerie is writing checks to someone named Francis Adams.
I don’t know.
So then it was just who and what are they doing?
They think I’m being scammed, and I’m not being scammed.
It was like somebody had gotten into her brain.
It, it just, I looked at Suzy and I just went, what just happened?
It was like that, that crazy.
[00:10:12] Kitty: Yeah, yeah, it was like everything, nothing else mattered.
You, you just need to enjoy yourself, enjoy your life."
But the trip in January lasted a week.
Is she trying to take out loans?
Abbie likens the visits to a sting operation.
[00:11:54] Abbie: We came down together.
She was kind of upset.
She called back, so they were phishing.
[00:13:07] Will: That must have been really emotional.
I mean I really can’t even imagine it.
[00:13:09] Alison: It was, it was.
She seemed to think, you know, this was legitimate.
I don’t know whether there were many diamonds.
I think it was mainly gold and, and watches.
This is a woman who used the credit card for an occasional dinner and grocery shopping.
She has now racked up in one day a $20,000 bill.
It’s, I mean you know this is practically a loan.
You’re giving a 94-year-old woman a $20,000 loan to buy jewelry.
If that isn’t a red flag, I don’t know what is.
Someone named Germaine and then cover her tracks.
They’re under the ether, meaning really reason is out the door.
[00:15:52] Abbie: Yeah.
[00:16:01] Alison: Right, yeah, Abbie told me.
[00:16:02] Will: And what, what did that feel like?
What went through your mind if you’re free to recall?
She’s not acting, I mean she wasn’t herself when we went to visit her.
She wasn’t acting like herself at all.
Doing something that seems so strange, but at the same time made sense to their mother.
If anyone found out about it, then she would lose everything.
She wasn’t the same person that she used to be.
She would cut the calls a little shorter and be more like superficial on the phone.
[00:17:19] Will: But are you still more or less in the dark after your visit?
You don’t have a lot of information?
You said you found the original letter than came from Publisher’s Clearing House, though, right?
[00:17:39] Will: But it was kind of like she was living a secret life.
[00:17:43] Abbie: Yeah.
[00:17:44] Alison: I think in a way it might have been exciting for her.
[00:17:46] Will: Did you ever worry about her physical safety?
[00:17:48] Alison: Yes, all the time.
[00:18:29] Frank Abagnale: Yes.
[00:19:11] Will: Similar to what happened to Valerie.
[00:19:12] Frank Abagnale: Right.
[00:19:12] Will: Where there’s a car waiting somewhere.
He doesn’t need a Mercedes.
[00:19:34] Will: Is that a fact?
Literally sent more than…
[00:19:34] Frank Abagnale: Yes, he did.
He literally sent more money than the actual cost of the car.
[00:20:00] Will: And wait, who gave her the number again?
[00:20:02] Frank Abagnale: The people that were scamming her.
[00:20:03] Will: Oh, I see.
[00:20:06] Frank Abagnale: Yes, she calls…
[00:20:07] Will: Obnoxious.
[00:20:08] Frank Abagnale: Right.
You have to pay my travel expenses to come out there.
So she sent him a check for $1500.
She waited and waited.
He never showed up.
So she went back and then he eventually called her, said, “I apologize.
I had something come up.”
I said, “Let me just speak to your mother personally.”
So I got on the phone with her mother.
[00:21:08] I explained that to her.
Well she called back about a week later and said, “Look, I spoke to him.
So I called the Attorney General’s Office in Maryland, I know the Attorney General there.
I asked him to check for me.
They said, no, there was no licensed private investigator by that name.
And I said, “Again, yo do not send this man any money.
[00:22:12] Will: What did she seem like when you talked to her?
I probably wont talk to him again.
An advantage of having Frank Abagnale as your neighbor.
And uh I told her that.
And I said, Thats all I can do.
She said, I dont know if shes sending him any money.
Im not commenting on, on your neighbors mother, but theres a connection that someone has with somebody.
And thats so frustrating when you realize you cant do anything about it.
[00:24:08] Frank Abagnale: Exactly.
[00:24:08] Will: As opposed to you know, we underscore it can happen to anyone.
Yes, let me let you speak to that bank officer.
They connect it to the other person who comes on as a bank officer.
[00:24:37] Will: Theyre ready to go.
[00:24:42] Will: I want to talk about a few things.
The jewelry store where they make her go or they ask her to go buy Christmas presents.
Whats the, what else could I do to get from this woman?
[00:24:58] Will: Right.
[00:25:36] Will: Theres a lot of indecent people.
[00:25:37] Frank Abagnale: Exactly.
You know, so thats what I mean.
So uh again, join us next week.
The AARP Fraud Watch data pipe Ambassador Frank Abagnale, good to have you back.
[00:26:26] Frank Abagnale: Great to be back, thank you.
Again, thats 877-908-3360.
For AARP: The Perfect Scam, Im Will Johnson.
For instance, if you are looking for a job you are more vulnerable to a work-at-home scam.
