My buddies Grandmother is in the middle of what he thinks is a scam. Its a variation on the "sweepstakes scam" but with a strange twist.
She got a call a few weeks ago that she won a $3 million sweepstakes. From what he learned from her, the guy on the phone told her that all these retailers (like Sears, Walmart, etc) put in money to a pool and everyone that pays their bills on time gets their name put into it. Strike one. Walmart bills?
Anyway, of course, she has to pay the taxes and fees for this money. Here is the twist though, from what the grandmother said, the guy has sent her cash money for her to Western Union to Canada. The fist envelope contained $2000 in $100 bills. The second envelope he was unsure of the amount but its cash money, always $100 bills and delivered in an envelope via the post office. She is told to Western Union the money to Canada each time.
Now the guy is telling her everything is set and he is coming out to visit her so that they can take the "winnings" to the bank and deposit it. Conveniently, the private jet he was going to fly down in had transmission problems so he couldnt come down last week like he wanted but he is coming this week apparently. His grandmother was very specific about the transmission problems and apparently he went into great detail explaining it.
Hes worried about this guy just showing up since he does have her address and they have spoken on the phone in great detail quite a few times. Hes also worried about the information she has given. Apparently they spoke about him and what he did for a living. Typical small talk you would have with someone that you knew, although he is a total stranger. From what he has gathered, none of the money she has transferred was hers. Its all been the cash money he (or his associates) have mailed to her.
Has anyone heard of such a scam? I've heard of the "grandparents scam", the "sweepstakes scam" and the "lottery scam" but never something like this. Any ideas?
She got a call a few weeks ago that she won a $3 million sweepstakes. From what he learned from her, the guy on the phone told her that all these retailers (like Sears, Walmart, etc) put in money to a pool and everyone that pays their bills on time gets their name put into it. Strike one. Walmart bills?
Anyway, of course, she has to pay the taxes and fees for this money. Here is the twist though, from what the grandmother said, the guy has sent her cash money for her to Western Union to Canada. The fist envelope contained $2000 in $100 bills. The second envelope he was unsure of the amount but its cash money, always $100 bills and delivered in an envelope via the post office. She is told to Western Union the money to Canada each time.
Now the guy is telling her everything is set and he is coming out to visit her so that they can take the "winnings" to the bank and deposit it. Conveniently, the private jet he was going to fly down in had transmission problems so he couldnt come down last week like he wanted but he is coming this week apparently. His grandmother was very specific about the transmission problems and apparently he went into great detail explaining it.
Hes worried about this guy just showing up since he does have her address and they have spoken on the phone in great detail quite a few times. Hes also worried about the information she has given. Apparently they spoke about him and what he did for a living. Typical small talk you would have with someone that you knew, although he is a total stranger. From what he has gathered, none of the money she has transferred was hers. Its all been the cash money he (or his associates) have mailed to her.
Has anyone heard of such a scam? I've heard of the "grandparents scam", the "sweepstakes scam" and the "lottery scam" but never something like this. Any ideas?
