Are old people REALLY that stupid?

[Alpo]

I was on a click-bait "news" site, and one if the headlines was OLD MAN GOES INTO WALMART FOR HELP - WALMART EMPLOYEE REFUSES.

 

Did you know you can send money at Walmart? Up to $2500, just like Western Union. I didn't know that until this article.

 

So the old guy wants to wire $2300, and the Walmart gal asked why. Me - I'da said, "It ain't none of your damn business", but he told her why, and SHE REFUSED TO HELP HIM. Told the old fool he was being scammed.

 

It's called THE GRANDPARENT SCAM. Someone calls you and tells you it's one of your grandkids, and they DESPERATELY need money, and you send it to them.

 

So someone calls me. "Papaw, this is..." I hang up. I ain't Papaw. But maybe they use the right name. "Grandpa, this is your oldest grandson..." Again I hang up. I ain't got no grandsons. All right, we try this. "Grandpa, this is your oldest granddaughter. I'm in trouble."

 

This is your OLDEST GRANDDAUGHTER? Really? You, maybe, got a name there, girl? If I wanted to call MY grandmother, it woulda been something like, "Hey Grandma. This is Ronnie. Shirley's middle boy." Help the old gal out. Grandma had five kids that lived, and between 'em, probably had about two dozen grandkids. Narrow it down for her.

 

Hazel will, occasionally, when she calls, say, "This is your favorite daughter". But that's an ongoing joke. As my ONLY daughter, she's obviously my favorite.

 

But OLDEST? And people fall for that? 

 

Dang.

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

Well ...... Yes they Do 

[Pat Riot]

Things like this have been going on for quite a while now and regardless of what the Feds say, they haven't made a dent in solving these crimes or there wouldn't be so much of it going on.

That old line of "We are collecting information to go after the Ring Leaders" is pure unadulterated Bull! Sure, they do solve lots of crimes and stop bad situations that we will never know about but if they were making headway on interstate and "wire" crimes we would definitely hear about it.

[Rye Miles #13621]

My sister got a call from someone that said it was her grandaughter. She was whispering and my sister said, "Is this Alex"? the voice says,"Yea grandma this is Alex, I got caught driving while a little drunk can you send me money for bail"??

 

My sister says, Alex doesn't drink, in fact she hates alcohol!!! The person hung up!!

 

My sister was a "smart" old lady!!!

[Trailrider #896]

Unfortunately, some older people are 1) naïve; 2) suffering from some forms of dementia.  OTOH, most of us are neither!  My wife got a call from one of our adult children who was out in California, visiting Disneyland with one of our grandchildren.  My wife recognized the adult child's voice, and so knew she was being kidded, because the first thing said was, "Send money!"  Of course the comment was due to the increased costs of visiting that place, and wasn't really a request for money.

 

If I were to get a call purporting to be from a grandchild, the first question I would ask would be to name their dogs!  That would probably result in a loud click as the scammer hung up.  If not, it would be followed by a large bang as I slammed the phone.

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

We get a lot of them on our cellphones and land lines, purporting to be from the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency), telling us they are Constable, So and So, threatening arrest etc. for tax fraud.

 

Another is a Chinese lady screaming Mandarin into the phone about how they have a relative and are going to cut her up unless money is sent.

My Chinese speaking neighbour took the call one time and told them he was handicapped, but had the cash it they wanted to pick it up. (Insert evil laugh here)

 

Apparently, they have the technology to spoof caller ID as well.

 

I recall, from an incident years ago, Bell Canada had technology to "Freeze" a suspect call, so that no matter what the caller did, they could not dis-connect, giving ample time to trace the call.

Too bad it no long seems to be available. 

[Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172]

In reply to your original inquiry, sadly, some are. 

[Clay Mosby]

Sadly this topic hits very close to home. As a someone dealing with an elderly parent with dementia I have to say, when I saw what the thread was about I found your title rather insulting. These people aren't "stupid" but rather as Trailrider mentioned, some have some level of dementia, while the others grew up in a much different social climate. One where there was respect for others, where decency and integrity were applauded rather than derided. That's not so much the case today and I for one am saddened by that.

 

Being old myself I thoroughly enjoy a good old fart joke.  This one though, not so much.  But that's just this old farts opinion.

[South-Eye Ned]

4 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Things like this have been going on for quite a while now and regardless of what the Feds say, they haven't made a dent in solving these crimes or there wouldn't be so much of it going on.

That old line of "We are collecting information to go after the Ring Leaders" is pure unadulterated Bull! Sure, they do solve lots of crimes and stop bad situations that we will never know about but if they were making headway on interstate and "wire" crimes we would definitely hear about it.

You are essentially correct.  Banks that identify that their elderly customers are getting scammed like this, are good at reporting such cases to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN); however, unless the dollar amount is astronomical or is tied to other crimes, the information is used just for statistical reporting purposes.  

[Tennessee Trapper Tom]

Sometimes it’s not stupid. Growing up I was a wild child. Always in trouble. Dad became a preacher after tours with special forces in Vietnam. My Uncle, 6’ 4” 260 lbs, married his sister. He spend 32 years in special forces, then did another 20 years with the govment doing who knows what. Very dangerous intelligent old man. I’m having dinner with him tonight. 

Anyway. He knows that while I’ve served 20 and been on the straight and narrow, he can’t forget my crazy side. 

 

Four years ago ago he got a call from Mexico that I was in jail for smuggling marijuana. I was switching phone at the time and didn’t get his calls til it was to late. He’d paid $5000 to someone to get me out out jail. 

 

When he he finally got me, he knew he’d been taken. I haven’t been out of Kentucky in 7 years. He told that it was no big deal and that things would be straightened out. Never heard another word.  

 

I love my family

[G W Wade]

My mother got the call a coupe of years ago.  A young man saying he was Michael (her grandson's name) was calling her from New York, telling her he had been in an accident and in bad need of money.  Dear old Mom keep him on the phone for several minutes.   THEN she told him he had been in enough trouble and better learn to get himself out.   Bless her little heart.      GW

[Michigan Slim]

My mom got one some years ago. Said it was my nephew and needed money to get back from Afghanistan. She said it sounded just like him and she was really torn up about what to do. I told her that Uncle Sam was taking care of that flight. Wish a guy could find these people. Things could get fixed right quick.

[Charlie Harley, #14153]

A very dear friend’s parents were scammed out of $5000 using the exact method you described. They are both college educated, active in their community, and without the slightest hint of dementia.

 

But they were ignorant of the personal information contained in their grandkids’ social media accounts.  They are good people who weren’t aware of the new tactics being developed by predators.  They love their grandkids deeply and would move mountains on their behalf if they thought one of them were in the slightest bit of a bad spot.

 

Yes, all of these traits made them an easy mark.

 

You may call them ignorant, trusting, and loving, but stupid is not appropriate. 

[Utah Bob #35998]

Some youg people are equally stupid.

[Ramblin Gambler]

Yes some folks are gullible.  That's why when I get one of these calls, I waste as much of these people's time as possible.  Every minute on the phone with me is a minute not on the phone with someone who might fall for it. 

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

Yes, when they get a retired person, with nothing to do at the moment, you can have a lot of fun.

[Sparky Nelson]

18 hours ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

Some youg people are equally stupid.

 

Exactly what I was thinking. Isn't there another thread on this very forum about kids and the hot water challenge?

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Before I go. To Europe or Asia, I give each of my daughters an envelope with $2600 in it, with instructions that if I need it I will ask that they send a money gram or western union for 2500.  MGis cheaper.  They also get the third degree or even a half dozen seniors tell them to be careful of scams.

 

but I guarantee you the typical scammer does not hand you the cash to send first.

[Brazos John]

I kept getting calls from this one number from "my company's tech dept".

After about 15 minutes I had the guy crying, saying that he was poor, and was being made to do this, when his supervisor came on, asking me if I liked what happened on 9/11. He repeated that several times, and I asked if he was a terrorist. He kept repeating the question, which I took as a threat. I forgot to mention that they had middle-east accents.

I took his number, and tried to contact Homeland Security, and other law enforcement folks, and found that there's no way to actually report this sort of harassment.

Now when they call, I just call them terrorists, and hang up.

 

[Hoss Carpenter]

I do not like the title: "are old people Stupid?"  No . most are not stupid; ignorant is a better description. You can be brillant but if you do not know about certin things, such as Calibers/Ballistices, you are not stupid. only ignorante. Many old people (inclduing Me at 77) really could care less about a lot of today Pop Culchur or the latest gizmo on the market. That does not make them stupid.!

 

Cheers,  Hoss C.