Western Union scam?

[trax1]

My Grandmother just called me saying that for the last week or so some guy has been calling her saying she won a sweepstakes from Readers Digest and wants her to go to Western Union to claim her prize, she's told him she doesn't drive and he has offered to send her a cab, apparently when he calls it says Jamaica on the caller I.D.  I told her that it's a scam and not to do it, I wanted her to give me this jerks phone number but unfortunately she doesn't know how to work her caller ID to scroll back and look at the number, so I told her if he calls again to just tell him she knows it's a scam & if he continues to call her she'll contact the authorities.  My question is this, what kinda scam could this be where they want her to go to Western Union to collect the money, usually it would be the other way around with them wanting her to go there and send them money.

[kilo2]

Maybe some sort of Identity theft? That does not make any sense to me either.

[rabbidrabbit]

He's probably having her pick up cash from his scam.  You should contact the fbi.

[trax1]

Yeah the only thing I could think of too was that the money was some part of another scam, and after she picked it up they'd tell her they sent to much and she'd need to send back part.

[CAP1]

My Grandmother just called me saying that for the last week or so some guy has been calling her saying she won a sweepstakes from Readers Digest and wants her to go to Western Union to claim her prize, she's told him she doesn't drive and he has offered to send her a cab, apparently when he calls it says Jamaica on the caller I.D.  I told her that it's a scam and not to do it, I wanted her to give me this jerks phone number but unfortunately she doesn't know how to work her caller ID to scroll back and look at the number, so I told her if he calls again to just tell him she knows it's a scam & if he continues to call her she'll contact the authorities.  My question is this, what kinda scam could this be where they want her to go to Western Union to collect the money, usually it would be the other way around with them wanting her to go there and send them money.

there was one like this right in mt laurel nj a few weeks ago.

 the guy met her at her bank...after several phone conversations. she finally caught on to it being a scam, and he tried to assualt her. they caught the guy i think.

 tell her to not talk to them anymore......possibly even turn the number over to the authorities.

[Ack-Ack]

Was she told to print out an invoice to show to WU when she went to pick up her money?  If so, it's definitely a scam and the invoice she received via email is a trojan virus with a key logger to capture credit card numbers.


ack-ack

[Soulyss]

Sounds fishy to me, you could give Readers Digest a call and see if they were running any sweepstakes, my guess is no.

[ebfd11]

I contacted the local FBIand  notified them of the same thing happening here, the name the guy used was Det Don Johnson (how ironic) I happened to get the phone number of the accomplise down in Jamacia. I called back with the Agent on a 3 way call and he asked some questions also. Right now we are awaiting his arrival to the Harrisburg Airport on Monday.


Any takers saying he doesn't show up?

[trax1]

Was she told to print out an invoice to show to WU when she went to pick up her money?  If so, it's definitely a scam and the invoice she received via email is a trojan virus with a key logger to capture credit card numbers.

She really couldn't remember a lot of the details, I asked but she's old you know, and she doesn't have a computer.

Sounds fishy to me, you could give Readers Digest a call and see if they were running any sweepstakes, my guess is no.

Yeah I gave her the phone number, she did actually have a subscription to Readers Digest that she recently cancled, but she called and they told her that it was definitely a scam, that had she won a sweepstakes with them she would have been notified by certified mail, but they also told her there was nothing that they could do about it.