I often post about the various scams out there.
Someone once asked me why?
In my mom's later years, People targeted her.
▪️Somebody did a phone scam and got a little bit of money out of her. Not a lot but it was somebody out of the Cayman Islands or something.
Fortunately she realized it the last minute and didn't lose that much money
▪️ They even tried the IRS warrant scam and a few other similar scams. She was with it enough that she didn't fall for it.
▪️ Then the scammers came to her in person.
👉 One neighbor with a small child started mooching off of her. That person eventually started staying in her house, and then fell asleep smoking and nearly burned the house down.
She tried to worm herself into my mother's life again. We served her with a trespass notice and a stay away notice. We served her at home, with copies to her employer and local law enforcement.
👉 A man across the street from realized that she was developing some dementia. He used to come over and tell her that he just finished mowing the lawn and tried to get $20 or $30 out of her.
He even got snarky with my sister.
Another trespass and stay away notice went to him with copies to local law enforcement.
👉 Another neighbor with ties to organized crime started became involved with my mother's life.
She approached us as a neighbor who was being abused by a boyfriend. She wanted help, She told us that she'd contacted the police four times and they never came to help her.
I actually ended up contacting a local police supervisor and had a cop out to the house. She filed a report.
(It is believed now that it was a false report)
Before long she was spending a lot of time at my mom's house.
We found out she was stealing from my mother, Even stealing pop bottles for the deposits.
She took my mother's smartphone and hid her own in my mom's house.
She created some porn videos using my mother's phone.
She made some illicit deals (Think drugs and guns) on our mother's phone.
She would even break into the house at night.
The City Police Department being short-handed; Not a lot was being done.
We had to step in. We did an investigation on our own, ran background checks. Dug through social media, We prepare a case file.
I even discussed with a retired homicide cop that I know.
We made sure that the crimes against seniors unit at the sheriff's department was personally served.
Copies were forwarded to the city and state authorities; law enforcement district attorneys and state senators.
Copies were sent to the FBI and the White House along with the US senators for the state.
By time it was said and done; with lots of drama that I don't have time to talk about.
I had federal law enforcement authorities contacting me - turns out this person was involved in an organization and a joint task force was looking for.
I was even getting phone calls from federal agents who were on stake outs in my mother's neighborhood.
The person ended up in jail, went to prison.
When she got out of prison; a member of her gang who is also her former drug dealer killed her.
There's a lot more details that I've not shared - But they targeted my mother who never harmed anybody.
These people have no conscience. Social media is not safe from these creeps.
I encourage people to lock down their Facebook accounts.
▪️Hide your friends list
▪️Don't have your account listed to the public (If you need it for church or a charity group start a page or a group)
▪️ Set up two-factor authentification for your Facebook page
▪️ Do not let your phone number nor email address be public on Facebook.
▪️ You are not hiding anything by maintaining your pages friends only.
▪️ Always make sure your spouse knows your password.
Too many creeps out there targeting people. It is estimated that social media phone and email scams are profiting people into the millions and perhaps even the billions of dollars per year.