Betty is a wonderful person. She is in her mid-eighties but looks much younger. In her youth, she earned two masters degrees. Betty and her husband operated a successful business during their working years. Travel was their passion. They visited many of the countries of the world.
Similarly, Pete is a highly educated man in his eighties. He shares a lot of Betty’s attributes: successful in business, financially savvy, and well traveled.
What do they have in common? They are both extremely well educated, financially comfortable but careful with their money, and raised loving families. Neither were gamblers. But both are scam victims!
Betty began getting mail soliciting her to purchase various trinkets in order to enter sweepstakes contests. She would get letters telling her that she was so close to winning. She would send at least $20 at a time, several times a week in response for each of these solicitations. Soon, she had responded to hundreds of solicitations. Once she was on one mailing list, she was on many.
The matter came to light when Betty’s stockbroker contacted Betty’s daughter and her attorney, Bill Bonham. Money was being used from her investments at an alarming pace. Betty had a reputation for being tight with her money.
When she was confronted, Betty responded that she was absolutely convinced that very soon she would be coming into millions of dollars. She wouldn’t listen to her attorney, her broker or her family. All had long-term relationships with Betty built on trust.
Betty continued to send off money until a health setback rendered her incompetent. That was when the depth of the problem was discovered. At last count, 112 different entities were soliciting her for money. Thousands and thousands of dollars have been spent.
Pete’s story was different. Pete received a notification that he had won a foreign lottery worth millions of dollars. He had never entered it. The company was requiring him to wire $3,000 on the excuse that it would be held for the Internal Revenue Service.
The instructions were to wire the money from a Walmart store. (The money can then be picked up at any Walmart in the world.)
Just after Pete left for his local Walmart, his son, a highly successful business man, called Pete’s home. Pete’s wife, educated and sharp in her own right, told the son where Pete had gone. The son dashed out to Walmart and was able to prevent Pete from sending the money. The son saw that a police report was filed and used his connections to have a local television station report a warning to seniors.
Pete was still absolutely convinced that he had missed out on a windfall.
The solicitations that Betty got were probably legal. As long as Betty was competent, she was able to spend her money for whatever she wanted. Her activities could not be stopped as long as she wanted to participate.
Both Pete and Betty’s activities were out of character. Betty submitted to a competency test before her stroke and passed with flying colors. No amount of talking could persuade her that she was wasting her money. She was completely convinced that she would soon be rich.
Pete has been doing fine. His son was able to convince him that he was being scammed. There is still a part of Pete that wants to believe that he would have won. He is honoring his family’s wishes not to participate.
If you or a family member are involved in anything similar, here is what to do:
- Contact Postal Inspectors through your local post office to see if the solicitations are legitimate. These scams are a very common phenomenon and they will tell you quickly whether or not it is a legal activity.
- Anytime you have to pay something to claim a prize, it is illegal. Call the police and report it. They may be federal crimes and other federal law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI, may need to be involved.
- Foreign lotteries are illegal. They are not permitted to operate in the United States and U.S. citizens are not allowed to participate in them.
- In every state, the state Attorney General monitors these activities. Contact the Attorney General’s Office and inquire about the legitimacy of the solicitation.
- Participation in these activities may be a sign of a change in a individual’s mental state. They may be experiencing the onset of dementia or some other disease. Take them to their doctor for a mental evaluation. A guardianship may be necessary to get control of their finances and cut off the scammers.
If you need to talk with someone about a situation like this or if you simply need help with a guardianship, estate planning, or estate admininstration contact the attorneys at Mularski, Bonham, Dittmer, & Phillips, LLC. at (614) 478-8020!