Shes handed over tens of thousands of dollars to scammers for collect a prize that doesnt exist.
No matter how her daughters try, they cant convince their mother shes being scammed.
With the stress from the scam damaging Valeries health, her daughters take drastic measures.
But theyre out there.
If you havent listened to part 1 of Valeries story, do that now.
Im Will Johnson, and Im here with the AARP Fraud Watch web link Ambassador Frank Abagnale.
[00:00:29] Frank Abagnale: Great to be here.
[00:00:30] Will: Good to have you here.
You know, after 42 years with the FBI, its 42 now, right?
[00:00:35] Frank Abagnale: Yes.
[00:00:39] Frank Abagnale: I appreciate that.
[00:00:40] Will: I, I would assume you feel the same way.
[00:01:42] Frank Abagnale: Exactly.
Then when you call them, they go, Oh, Im sorry to hear that.
Whats your Social Security number?
Whats your bank account number?
Whats your date of birth?
This happened to her.
Uh, but I appreciate your bringing it up because it is one thats out there.
You just look at your bank account, or you look at your information, you call that number.
I live my life in fear, uh basically.
I looked up the company, very legitimate, well-known national company.
I looked them up online and went to their website.
I think I did things right here.
So I provided that on the chat.
Eventually they said, we dont have any charges from our, from our account there.
So it was somebody else doing this under their name.
So maybe I did the right thing, I dont know.
[00:04:33] Will: Alright, I feel better then.
Thank you for letting me make that confession.
[00:04:36] Frank Abagnale: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:04:38] Will: Alright, so look out for that one, folks.
They also were realizing that their mother wasnt sharing much information.
[00:05:27] Will: It must have been an odd feeling to go that far.
You’re scamming me horribly and I, you have to stop.
I love you, bye.
[00:06:25] Will: To watch that must have just bizarre.
[00:06:27] Alison: It was bizarre.
That almost killed me.
I’m not going to do it.
I’m just not going to do it.
The sisters were also doing what they could to track down the scammers on their own.
[00:07:55] Abbie: The incoming calls, a lot of the incoming calls um, were 000-000-0000.
But I have three numbers that were incoming calls.
We said stuff like you know, Were onto you.
[00:08:20] At what point did your mom know what was going on was a scam?
Did she ever completely get through to that?
[00:08:27] Alison: I dont think so.
[00:08:41] Alison: I would say close to $100,000.
Tell us about that and, and what help you did or did not get.
Its only money, you know, you have your health.
By the end of that wonderful visit she was herself.
She had energy, wed go to the beach, we would do things.
She was going to be fine.
[00:11:07] Will: Sadly though, Valerie seems to give out soon after Kittys visit.
When I saw that video, I was like, Whos that old man?
She had no hair.
She couldnt, you know, walk, and I, and then I realized it was my mother.
She, shes not going out.
She is not seeing friends.
Shes not doing the book club.
Things have changed dramatically for Valerie.
Kitty has no doubt in her mind that the scam is to blame for her mothers sudden decline.
[00:12:03] Kitty: They killed her.
She had no other, she had, she was not sick.
She had no other physical um, you know, issues.
[00:12:23] Kitty: Right.
[00:12:24] Will: Yeah.
[00:12:24] Kitty: Stress does kill you.
Its a, thats no secret.
You promised me it was going to come.
It was supposed to come last month.
What about oh, its going to come this month?
Oh, youve got to pay more.
Well where is that prize?
Its supposed to come.
And this probably went on for six months.
Oh, now youve got to pay this.
Its, its really, they killed my mother.
I mean they, plain and simple.
I have no, no doubt in my mind.
[00:13:05] Kitty: Oh, (laugh) I mean, you know burn in hell.
I, I dont know what sort of human being could ever do that.
You know I, I dont know what sort of mon–, but theyre out there.
Theyre out there and theyre, theyre out there plenty of, in droves.
Im sorry the last chapter had to be like that.
[00:13:41] Kitty: I know.
Cause it is so sad.
[00:14:34] Abbie: No one tried.
No one even called the scammers.
I gave them the phone numbers.
And theyre doing it to more people right now.
Im sure, you know?
[00:15:18] Alison: What we could have done is been done there with her all the time.
I think, thats what we could have done, but we werent.
[00:15:24] Abbie: Yeah.
[00:15:37] Will: Thank you so much for talking to us.
[00:15:39] Alison: Thank you.
No, really, it was good.
[00:16:00] Frank Abagnale: Well, and I believe it, too.
I believe Kittys right that that drained uh, the life out of her.
There were probably 47 county sheriffs there.
You know, were kind of powerless.
So, I think theres some, there is some efforts going on [00:17:00].
So I spoke a, a few months ago for the uh association of State Attorney Generals.
They come for five days to Washington DC.
I made a presentation to them.
Who am I able to speak to?
So I think theres a little more of that going on.
The other thing Id say is remember that she [00:18:00] was just one of many victims.
They dont work just one case and then devote all their time to just Kittys mom.
There were hundreds of Kittys moms they were working on at the same time.
And yes, its a scripted, this is entirely scripted.
They learn to do this, they follow the script.
So thats all part of the, these people all work together and part of the scam.
Theres nothing to be ashamed of if youre scammed.
Anybody can be scammed.
The smartest people on Wall Street, the smartest investment bankers have been scammed.
So, if youre scammed, the point is to not let it happen to somebody else.
And thats, thats just totally a shame.
And she was saying that back.
They could hear, at least hear her side of that conversation.
We have a personal interest in you.
You dont really know who they are.
Its what they do for a living.
[00:20:14] Frank Abagnale: Each person, absolutely.
And again, when you say, well how can people like this do this?
I dont know really what they look like, who they are.
I had to be conning you.
So I may have gotten into an emotional relationship with you as you became a friend of mine.
Id say, you know, I really hate doing this.
This guys a really nice guy.
Hes a decent guy.
Thats all gone because of the internet and communications.
[00:21:26] Frank Abagnale: And I, and I felt that they did the right thing.
Id, Id want to bring evidence that, that I could substantiate that, that they were.
You talked about talking to this uh, sheriffs, thats right.
[00:21:55] Frank Abagnale: Sheriffs Association.
[00:22:00] Frank Abagnale: No, and it is very frustrating to law enforcement.
These people are in Jamaica.
What can I do?
Its a very frustrating thing.
You cannot rely on your bank.
You have to be a little smarter today, a little wiser today than you did 50 years ago.
[00:23:53] Will: Stamp that on your, on your hand or something.
[00:23:54] Frank Abagnale: Exactly.
[00:23:55] Will: Yeah.
Alright, great advice.
[00:24:12] Frank Abagnale: Absolutely.
Again, thats 877-908-3360.
For AARP: The Perfect Scam, Im Will Johnson.
Join us again next week.
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