30 September 2022

The FBI Called - A Raising Parents Story

 You guys.  I mean...omg....YOU GUYS...Seriously.

Yesterday was a long day for me.  I'd worked all day, trying to get through startup and all that.  Lucy is feeling better thus more difficult to keep calm and quiet.  Then add Kevin phoning what-felt-like-every-fifteen-minutes for a variety of valid reasons.

By 5:00p.m. I was over it.  Super tired, cranky, over it.

Oh, wait, by the way: The vet declined to remove Lucy's stitches until Monday and extended bedrest/meds until then as well.  Five additional days.  So when I say Over It, I mean OVER IT.

Kevin came home and then went outside to do stuff.  He mentioned that he was going over to the parents for some reason that I can't recall now.

He phoned about fifteen minutes later and had The Tone.  The about to lose his sh*t tone. Sigh.

The parents fell for a phone scam and gave the "F.B.I." $2,000 in gift cards.

TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS

What had happened was Kevin went into the parents house and his mom was on the phone, looking rattled. He asked them who she was talking to and she waved him off.  Red flag.  Not only don't wave him off, there is no reason not to tell him who she's talking to.  He rose his voice and asked again.  She tried again to wave him off when he reached over and took her phone.

She freaked out and said that it was THE FBI and they had to talk to them and they had been working on this all day.  

THE WHAT.

Kevin answered the phone but of course, they had hung up.  

He made them explain what was happening.  The short version is that the FBI phoned and said they needed $2000 in gift cards from different stores in order to settle some fraudulent activity that had occurred.  She reports that she told them that her sons handle all of the financial stuff but they persisted, adding that the sons might be in on it so don't tell them anything.

So, instead of asking their sons or calling their daughter in-law who is ONE HUNDRED FEET AWAY FROM THEM AT ALL TIMES, they went to town and bought gift cards.

I KNOW.

They went to Target and got a $500 gift Target card.

They went to Rite Aid and got two $500 Apple gift cards.

They went to Safeway and got one $500 Apple gift card.

Then they returned home and waited for them to phone and gave them the information.  This is where Kevin walked into the situation.  Actually, they had phoned back because she gave them incorrect information (thank you, dementia)

While Kevin was hearing this, the phone rang.  He answered it and they answered him.  He said it was a very soft spoken, overly polite guy.  When Kevin demanded to know who he was, he said that he was talking to his mom (called her by name) and needed to finish the conversation.  Kevin went all "I'm The Captain now" and then the guy tried to tell him he was F.B.I.  Kevin -  doggone he's quick - said "We both know you're not so now what?"  The guy hung up on him.

Then Kevin phoned me with that tone.  "The parents gave the FBI $2,000 in gift cards."

"G@dammit" is all I said.

"I'll be right over, we need your help."

Ten minutes later, he came over with the gift cards.  I had just searched for what to do in this situation while Kevin phoned the attorney for his work for advice.  

First:

Try to close the cards.  I went to Target first and saw that the money was still there.  We phoned the store but they said you have to call the corporate office and they were closed.  I set that aside and began to work on the larger issue: $1500 in Apple gift cards.

While I'm on the phone with them - they were very helpful -  Kevin says that we need to "spend" the gift card at Target before the scammers do.   I went back to my work computer and began to buy two televisions.  By the time we did this, the scammers had used the card. #$#%@  So, there was $500 gone.

Meanwhile, Apple is working on suspending the cards so they are rendered useless.  

This is where it got complicated:  The first representative said that the amount could be refunded via the method the cards were purchased. 

The second representative stated they had to be returned to the retailer where they bought them.

Kevin went back over to the parents and explained that they were out $500 because we weren't quick enough and that we were working on the Apple ones.  He explained that they had to return to the stores to return them.  Kevin mentioned not to waste any time in the morning and get there so nothing else could go wrong.

We ate dinner at 8:30 pm, watched television for a minute then we both slept restlessly.

Kevin left at 5:15 in the morning and shortly thereafter, I was sitting at my desk and starting to work.  

At 6:35, my f-i-l phones me. He was already at the store waiting for them to open.  He had called Kevin to have him remind him what to do, much to Kevin's frustration because he was to CALL SURELY BEFORE YOU LEAVE SO SHE CAN BE AVAILABLE IF YOU NEED HELP.

Anyway. That's a whole other set of problems.

A few minutes later, my f-i-l phoned me again.  The store told him they could not take the cards back.  Why am I not surprised.

I told him I would phone Apple again and to sit tight.  Fifteen minutes later, I had to text Kevin to call his dad and tell him to come home. Turns out he already had so there's that.

What had to happen is:

Call the Corporate Office of the Store to file a claim.  I had to search for two telephone numbers, swim through the phone tree, wait on hold, then explain everything again to each person.

Of course they're not just going to give someone money over the phone, that's crazy. (intentional, sarcastic irony)   They both explained the process, which is the exact same for both companies:

Copy the cards, front and back

Copy the receipt

Email them to the provided email addresses (not public domain emails) with the claim number

Now you wait.

One of the stores emailed an auto-reply about thirty minutes later with a claim number.  The other store just did the same, some seven hours later.  But that's PROGRESS.

So, maybe they'll get the money returned. I'm skeptical just because it's fraud and it's a consequence.

Next step:

Report it to the local law enforcement; in our case: the sheriff's department.

I don't know if it's our area or all Sheriff's deputies but this is the second one I've spoken with who was very funny.

I explained that my elderly in-laws gave the FBI $2,000 yesterday.   Immediately, he says "Please don't be gift cards. Don't be gift cards..." And I finished his sentence with "$2,000 of Target and Apple gift cards."

He said that it happens A LOT and the stories are ever-changing.  The most recent one is Border Patrol, which is terrifying because that would be plausible in our case.  

I explained everything we did and he was very encouraging. He laughed at the taking the phone away from the parents and the comment "It's like raising teenagers."  He was sympathetic but realistic that we may not get the money returned.  He also said that while it's good/necessary to file a report, it's pretty futile.  

Next step is to file a report on the State and Federal websites.  Frankly, I don't have the energy for it today but will do it tomorrow.  If I felt like it would have any affect on the outcome, I would do it but it's futile.

Now we have to have yet another discussion with the parents about....everything.  They are just not able to handle their lives anymore.  I'm exhausted fixing things over and over again.  Kevin's exhausted with having to check in constantly and babysit.  We are not talking about the siblings who think they're helping and are, in fact, not.

Oh, wait...I was going to tell you about this but then EVERYTHING ELSE HAPPENED:

A few Saturdays ago, the m-i-l phoned and she needed help with an online order.  Not a shmamazon order, an online order.  I practically ran over there to see what she had done.

She was ordering brain improvement meds from Tom Selleck on the facebook because she "needs them" and "I know him from t.v. and he wouldn't lie."

MYGAWD.

So, if you're taking notes: you can search through facebook settings which ads have been viewed and/or interacted with.  This is the ONLY way I could a) figure out who she was talking about because my clue was "He's on the show with his family and they're all cops"  b) find the ad to see if she made a purchase. There wasn't so WHEW.

I mean..C'mon.  We think we have the fire put out and then they light another, bigger one.

The next idea we have is to get a landline phone with a voicemail and disable the ringer.  We'll forward all the doctors, etc. to the landline phone.  Then they are to only answer the cell phone if it's a family member.  We would then screen the messages every few days.  

I simply cannot think of anything else to do other than take their phones away, which is fun to think about but not a reasonable situation.

P.S. The FBI will never phone you.  Ever.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG….these stories just keep getting more insane! You and Kevin have infinite patience…

May Lucy continue to heal!

angela said...

Instead of a landline you could set up a Google voice phone number and set it to send you the voicemail messages via email. Free!

Anonymous said...

Oh man, my parents aren't at this point just yet but I know it's coming! If you have control over their bank accounts/credit cards, you can set up an alert to text your husband anytime they spend over $20 or whatever you prefer.