[00:00:03] I almost felt like I was hypnotized, and I would do anything he said.
[00:00:13] The FBI believes that behind every $12,000 victim is a million dollar case.
[00:00:21] Bob: Welcome back to The Perfect Scam.
I’m your host, Bob Sullivan.
Today’s story is really charming.
It’s basically a movie script.
It’s about 96-year-old Mary.
She’s a young 96, we’ll say.
She still drives on the road and on the golf course.
She’s enjoying her active life, but that’s not the movie.
Mary has two sisters.
She’s the oldest, you might have guessed.
He sends Mary on a far less pleasant journey.
But before we get to that, let’s meet Mary.
[00:01:37] Bob: How long have you been in Virginia?
[00:01:38] Aunt Mary: Since 1969.
[00:01:40] Bob: So recently you moved there.
(laugh)
[00:01:43] Aunt Mary: Yeah.
[00:01:46] Bob: Since 1969, wow.
What brought you there?
[00:01:48] Aunt Mary: My husband’s job.
[00:01:52] Bob: And what was your husband’s job?
[00:01:56] Aunt Mary: He was in the anodizing business.
Well we had been in New Jersey.
Before that we were in Michigan.
[00:02:04] Bob: And were you a child in Michigan?
[00:02:07] Aunt Mary: Yes.
[00:02:08] Bob: So they tell me that you’re 96 years old, is that right?
[00:02:13] Aunt Mary: Yes.
[00:02:14] Bob: That’s fantastic.
My dad just turned 88 yesterday.
[00:02:09] Aunt Mary: Belated birthday greetings.
[00:02:22] Bob: (laugh) I will tell him that you said so.
Thank you very much.
[00:02:30] Bob: That’s fantastic.
Always looking for new experiences.
She was the one that was always traveling.
She was the one that was always more involved in sports than her other sisters.
You know, she played tennis until recently.
She still goes out and plays golf.
She might not start on the tee box.
The three of them are widows.
Two of them in more recent years.
So they started looking for places.
But…
[00:04:18] Bob: Okay, time out, time out.
This is a movie plot.
[00:04:22] Niece Mary: Yeah, okay.
[00:04:25] Bob: After a lot of discussion, they settle on Southern California.
So that’s the setting.
They even get shirts made up for the trip.
They’re pretty cute.
I’ve seen the pictures.
They say, “Golden Girls.”
Anyway, the trip is a triumph, especially after the long COVID shutdown.
But there’s one thing about the trip.
Something’s just not right.
She had big delays.
He said, “I’ll go get her.”
So this exhausted 96-year-old comes off the plane.
We had about a 45 minute drive.
We get to our condo.
Her phone’s ringing.
[00:05:28] Bob: The family hasn’t really even unpacked.
[00:05:38] Niece Mary: They’re all alarmed and saying something’s going on here.
And I hear, “I just can’t be bothered by this right now.
I’m on vacation.
I’m gone for a week; I’ll take care of it when I get home.”
So I went in, and I said, “Aunt Mary, what’s going on?”
And she said, “This is personal business.
I’ll take care of it later.”
And I said, “So you have met this person face-to-face at a legitimate place of business.”
And she just stared at me.
[00:06:25] Bob: What was on in Aunt Mary’s mind?
Why the evasive answers?
Why the dead stare?
The phone rings, and she hears an unexpected voice on the other end of the line.
[00:06:46] Aunt Mary: I think it was morning, in the morning, rather early.
“US Government.”
So of course I pick it up.
And the voice says, “My name is William Jameson.”
Well he told me that my identity had been stolen.
[00:07:25] Bob: Her identity has been stolen.
And he has this very, very calm voice.
And it never changes.
And he’s very, very polite.
[00:08:35] Bob: Oh beautiful, yeah.
[00:08:36] Aunt Mary: He had said to me when I got there to call him.
So I went and I called him.
[00:09:13] Bob: The family knows nothing about William Jameson when they discover this call.
And Aunt Mary isn’t spilling the beans.
They mystery doesn’t sit well with them.
[00:09:23] Niece Mary: So everybody was alarmed.
We brought it up a couple more times.
I’ll tell you about everything when it’s all over."
[00:09:34] Bob: And everything is fine, at least as far as the trip goes.
We visited a couple places; the San Diego Botanical Gardens were gorgeous.
Had a lot of nice meals.
Had a lot of nice wine (chuckles).
[00:10:18] Bob: The three sisters are a hit, even to other tourists.
And then they would kind of take it from there.
And I saw tons of text messages and tons of phone calls from unidentified numbers.
And I asked her if she texted.
And she said, “No, I don’t, I don’t text anymore.
I, I don’t do that.”
[00:11:38] Bob: That’s it, Mary, the niece, says to herself.
Something is very wrong.
She’s got to get the rest of the family involved.
I felt comfortable that she had told the guy it wasn’t going to happen.
[00:13:04] Bob: Still, they are worried for her.
[00:13:28] Bob: It confirms her worst fears.
Calls and texts from all over, even during the trip.
So first, she wants to put an end to whatever is going on.
[00:14:19] Niece Mary: She was appearing tender to us and fragile.
[00:14:34] Bob: So Mary flies home where she’s picked up by her son, John.
John is looking for a way to break the news to his mom, but it comes up naturally.
She was checking her messages, and this message from the package place came up.
[00:15:15] Bob: Oh.
“Who’s this Joe Gill.
Who’s this Joe Gill?
Why did you mail him a package?”
She says, “I mailed him a package of money.”
[00:16:16] Aunt Mary: Yeah.
[00:16:18] Bob: Mary’s daughter-in-law, Noel, explains why the elaborate packaging.
Somebody at the package place will steal it, or the UPS driver will steal it.
You cannot tell them there’s money in this box.
You tell them they are electronics, which is why you’re going to wrap it in aluminum foil.
[00:16:48] Bob: After a few tears, Mary tells the whole story to John.
She had put $16,000 in bills into that magazine in that box.
[00:17:26] John: He also mentioned, don’t tell anybody about this.
[00:17:30] Aunt Mary: Yeah.
Yeah, warned me not to talk to anybody about it.
[00:17:33] Noel: This took place over approximately five days.
It started on September the 10th, 2021, and it went through September the 15th, 2021.
Target, on, you know, et cetera, et cetera.
She was a victim of a crime.
As I say, I almost felt like I was hypnotized.
Everyone was, but they all swept into action.
[00:19:03] Niece Mary: They were also very worried about her.
She had a very tearful weekend.
But they were very guarded and with her and protective.
[00:19:51] Bob: There was a lot to work through.
Aunt Mary wasn’t very happy with her niece’s investigative skills, not at first anyway.
[00:20:00] Niece Mary: I know she was mad at me.
I got a very sweet note from her after I got home.
But I know her sisters and everyone just kept telling her, you know, you are the victim.
You do not have to feel bad about this.
You are the victim here.
There’s nothing to be ashamed about.
[00:20:39] Bob: And because of quick action by the family, not all was lost.
They were able to get some of the gift card money back.
So you know, she’s got all of the receipts for the purchases with the gift cards.
We were able to recover $3500 in gift cards that had not been redeemed.
So I just think that she hadn’t gotten to that yet.
[00:22:30] Bob: Despite that silver lining, it’s been a really hard time for Mary.
[00:22:36] Bob: So it’s only been a few weeks.
I mean are you still angry about it?
[00:22:39] Aunt Mary: Yes, sometimes I, I can’t sleep at night.
I wake up and I’m going over the whole thing in my mind.
I did tell my doctor, and he has given me anxiety medication.
And about the only way I can sleep is to uh take the anxiety medication.
[00:23:02] Bob: The three sisters did make wonderful memories on their vacation.
And the trip actually had an unexpected benefit.
[00:23:18] Niece Mary: Oh, absolutely.
Like I said, I think this could have gone on and on and on because she lives alone.
So yes, we’re, we’re all very thankful.
Mary, the niece, left the experience with some insights she wants to share with other people.
Mainly about answering the phone.
Just don’t do it.
[00:24:03] Niece Mary: Don’t answer calls from people you don’t know.
And just because caller ID says it’s someone, it doesn’t mean that’s who it is.
And Social Security and, and IRS are not going to be calling you.
Don’t answer those calls.
It’s that Midwestern politeness.
The phone rings, you pick it up.
You know is it, nope, nope.
[00:25:01] Aunt Mary: Never answer the phone unless you know absolutely who it is.
So this time, I was the one offering advice.
[00:25:19] Bob: When all this was over, how did you feel about it all?
[00:25:22] Aunt Mary: Very stupid.
[00:25:25] Bob: Were you angry?
[00:25:27] Aunt Mary: Yes.
[00:25:29] Bob: Who, who are you angry at?
[00:25:32] Aunt Mary: Myself.
[00:25:33] Bob: Yeah, so you should be angry at the criminal, not yourself.
You weren’t stupid, you weren’t any of those things.
You, you were a victim of, of a criminal, and a system.
Today was the last time.
[00:26:02] Aunt Mary: I’ll try.
[00:26:08] Bob: Stories like this make FBI Supervisory Special Agent Brady Finta angry, really angry.
When I talked with him about Mary’s case, I could tell he takes these things personally.
It lights a fire in me.
[00:27:03] Bob: The good news is that fire gets results.
At least some of the time.
How often is that the case?
[00:28:03] Bob: Can people really call the FBI?
[00:28:07] Agent Finta: Absolutely, 100%.
Every FBI office has, has a public access line.
There’s a national public access line for the FBI: 1-800-CALLFBI.
[00:28:57] Bob: So call your police department right away.
[00:29:00] Agent Finta: 100%.
[00:29:34] Bob: I hadn’t heard that ex–, expression before.
[00:29:37] Agent Finta: I have that up on the wall in my office.
[00:29:50] Agent Finta: Well that’s a good question.
That does, that does vary based on the, the punch in of situation.
We immediately assess whether or not there’s a tech assistance that we can apply to the case.
[00:30:53] Bob: These cases aren’t easy to prosecute.
[00:31:11] Agent Finta: These cases are incredibly fulfilling.
It’s, it’s a great feeling.
[00:31:42] Bob: Agent Finta has one critical piece of advice for listeners.
Something you should share with everyone you know.
Don’t do it.
There, there’s just not.
Call the AARP Fraud Watch data pipe Helpline at 877-908-3360.
Their trained fraud specialists can provide you with free support and guidance on what to do next.
Be sure to find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
For AARP’s The Perfect Scam, I’m Bob Sullivan.
Her normally vibrant aunt looks tired and frazzled.
