Who do you think you're messing with?

I got a phone call yesterday from a scammer.  They were pretty convincing too, IF I had a grandson of college age...  AND who knew our home phone number...  

"Hi Grandma!  It's me!"

"I'm sorry, who is this?"

"It's ME Grandma! Don't you recognize my voice?"

*appealing to my doubtfulness that I might actually forget what my grandson sounds like*

*apparently I'm on the verge of senility*

me: "Who do you think you're trying to call?"

*click*  he hung up.

This exact same phone call happened to me about a year ago where I ended up hanging up on him.  However later that day a year ago, my MIL got the same call.  

"Hi Grandma!  It's me!"

"I'm sorry, who is this?"

"It's ME Grandma! Don't you recognize my voice?"

her: "Seth?!  Well hello!! How are you doing?!"

"Grandma, I'm in a lot of trouble and I don't want my parents to find out..."

here: "Why Seth?  I'm sure they'll understand, no matter what it is."

"Grandma, I'm in jail.  I need bail money and my parents will not understand."

her: "Of course they will.  I can call them for you."

"Grandma, no, don't do that!  I'm pretty ashamed of myself."

her: "Hang up and I'll call them right now.  It's going to be ok."

*click*

She told us about the call from Seth later on that day.  She was still convinced it was him and that he was in some trouble.

Now, if she'd fallen for it, she'd be out thousands of dollars as did a friend of a friend of mine.  Some people are pretty gullible...

Why are scammers focusing on grandparents?  Because I guess they're gullible and want to not make you feel unhappy that they don't remember you.  

Then there's my mom.  She has dementia anyway and when Robb was hugging her goodbye last weekend, she didn't see his face and she said, "Now who are you?"  sigh...  I'm not sure if she truly didn't know who he was or if she just saw the back of his head and couldn't figure it out.  But I'm willing to give her the benefit of a doubt.  

She's got over 40 grandchildren, *don't make me count it up* and she will NOT remember who they are by their voice.  So if she got a scam call like this, she'd quiz them until they told her their real name.  And chances are she has a grandson with that name anyway. :\  But then again, she's not going to send money to get a grandkid out of trouble without talking to their parents first.  

What kind of grandparents do you think we are??!