美國(guó)電話詐騙花樣百出，卻令人備感熟悉

Frauds That Prey on the Vulnerable

美國(guó)電話詐騙花樣百出，卻令人備感熟悉

Barely a week passes in this house without one of us picking up the phone to an automated call offering my parents a free medical alert system. Of course, it is not free, but rather a well-known fraud trying to get their credit card information either for a donation, shipping or some additional emergency service.

我家?guī)缀趺恐芸倳?huì)有人接到自動(dòng)語(yǔ)音電話，向我父母提供免費(fèi)醫(yī)療警報(bào)系統(tǒng)。當(dāng)然，它不是免費(fèi)的，而是眾所周知的詐騙電話，以捐款、運(yùn)送或者提供附加應(yīng)急服務(wù)為名，竊取信用卡信息。

Luckily, because I live with my parents, who are in their 80s, I am not only their medical alert system (shout if you fall) but also their fraud alert system (hang up if they call). Last month, there was the guy who phoned saying my mother had made an appointment with a lawn service (she had not), asking for a prepayment. Then there was the large package that arrived a few days ago — some cleaning supplies my father bought that, unbeknown to him, did not cost $12 but rather $100, once the extra fees were added to what appeared to be a box of Clorox. “The moment I gave my credit card, they automatically added more products I didn’t want,” he told me in his defense.

我的父母都80多歲了。幸運(yùn)的是，我和他們住在一起，我不僅是他們的醫(yī)療警報(bào)系統(tǒng)(如果他們摔倒了，大喊一聲我就聽(tīng)到了)，而且是他們的詐騙警報(bào)系統(tǒng)(如果有人打詐騙電話，我會(huì)讓他們掛掉)。上個(gè)月，有個(gè)家伙打電話說(shuō)我媽預(yù)約了修草坪服務(wù)(她其實(shí)沒(méi)有預(yù)約)，要求提前付款。幾天前，我們收到了一個(gè)大包裹，里面是我爸在不知情的情況下購(gòu)買的一些清潔用品，不過(guò)，費(fèi)用不是12美元，而是100美元，那箱東西不過(guò)是高樂(lè)氏漂白水，卻增加了額外費(fèi)用。“我一提供自己的信用卡，他們就自動(dòng)添加了一些我不想要的產(chǎn)品， ”我爸為自己辯護(hù)說(shuō)。

My friend Karen’s biggest problem with her mother, who lives in an assisted living facility, is not her mind (she has early dementia) but rather her mail (60 solicitations a day).

我的朋友凱倫(Karen)的媽媽住在養(yǎng)老院里。凱倫最擔(dān)心的不是媽媽的頭腦(她有早期老年癡呆癥)，而是她的信件(每天60封)。

“Many days she will tell me she is too busy doing her ‘work’ to go out to lunch with me,” said Karen, who discovered last year just how many thousands of dollars in checks her mother was writing to organizations claiming to protect Social Security, wildlife, children in need and the military (including one asking for funds to buy sewing kits for soldiers in Afghanistan). “She thinks she is paying her bills,” said Karen, adding that many of the letters are stamped “act now” or “overdue,” even though she obviously owes nothing to these charities, many of which are bogus.

“她經(jīng)常跟我說(shuō)，她忙著處理事務(wù)，不能跟我出去吃午飯，”凱倫說(shuō)。去年，她發(fā)現(xiàn)媽媽簽的支票中有上萬(wàn)美元是捐給一些自稱保護(hù)社會(huì)安全或野生動(dòng)物、救助貧困兒童或軍隊(duì)的機(jī)構(gòu)(其中有個(gè)機(jī)構(gòu)居然要求捐款給阿富汗的士兵買針線包)。“她以為自己在付賬單，”凱倫說(shuō)。她補(bǔ)充說(shuō)，很多信上印有“現(xiàn)在行動(dòng)”或 “早該發(fā)生”的字樣，盡管她顯然并不欠欠那些慈善機(jī)構(gòu)什么東西，而且其中很多是冒牌機(jī)構(gòu)。

Karen’s mother is now angry that her daughter has taken away her checkbook, since neither Karen nor the staff members have the time to sort through bags of mail each day. “Once you give money to one of these scams, the others seem to find you and the mail just increases,” said Karen, who now fears her mother is sending cash donations. But it was another incident — in which her mother nearly agreed to meet a man in a parking lot who claimed her grandson was in trouble and in need of $5,000 — that truly frightened my friend. (Fortunately, it was thwarted by her mother’s banker calling Karen with a head’s up that she had just requested a cashier’s check for an emergency.)

現(xiàn)在，凱倫的媽媽為女兒拿走支票簿而生氣。因?yàn)閯P倫和養(yǎng)老院的工作人員都沒(méi)時(shí)間每天整理那一大堆的信件。“一旦某個(gè)詐騙團(tuán)伙騙走了你的錢，其他團(tuán)伙似乎就找到了你，信件就會(huì)不斷增加，”凱倫說(shuō)?，F(xiàn)在她擔(dān)心媽媽直接送現(xiàn)金捐款。不過(guò)這是另一樁事件：她媽媽差點(diǎn)同意和一個(gè)男人在停車場(chǎng)會(huì)面，后者聲稱她的外孫遇到了麻煩，需要5000美元。這真的嚇壞了凱倫(幸運(yùn)的是，這次詐騙被銀行出納員挫敗了。這位出納員給凱倫打電話，說(shuō)她媽媽聲稱自己遇到了緊急情況，要求獲得銀行本票)。

My friend Fran’s mother, however, was not so lucky, and within a month lost $40,000 to a network of phone thieves, who told her she had won a contest with a large cash prize that would be deposited into her bank account once she gave them access. After giving them her bank and credit card account numbers, they then linked them to a PayPal account from which they proceeded to steal her money. It was only after they pirated her landline, which was then used to robocall their other victims around the world, that her children, now unable to reach her at home, discovered what was happening to their mother.

不過(guò)我的朋友弗蘭(Fran)的媽媽就沒(méi)有這么幸運(yùn)了。她在一個(gè)月內(nèi)損失了四萬(wàn)美元，因?yàn)橐粋€(gè)手機(jī)盜詐騙團(tuán)伙告訴她，她贏了一場(chǎng)競(jìng)賽，獲得了一大筆現(xiàn)金獎(jiǎng)金。只要他們獲得授權(quán)，就把獎(jiǎng)金存入她的銀行賬戶。他們?cè)讷@取銀行和信用卡賬戶號(hào)碼之后，就把它們和貝寶(PayPal)的一個(gè)賬戶關(guān)聯(lián)起來(lái)，從那里偷她的錢。他們還盜用她的固定電話給世界各地的其他受害者撥打自動(dòng)語(yǔ)音電話，她的孩子們因此打不通她家里的電話，這才知道發(fā)生了什么事。

“They were calling her on her cellphone all day and night, demanding more and more information they promised would result in her winning this prize money,” recalled Fran, who then contacted the F.B.I. “The scariest thing is they had built up this relationship with her and she trusted them,” Fran said, adding that they had started asking about whether she had a mortgage on the house. “That was what was next on their agenda, taking her home.”

“他們一天到晚往她的手機(jī)上打電話，要求獲得更多信息，他們向她保證那些信息能幫助她獲得那筆獎(jiǎng)金，”弗蘭回憶說(shuō)。她后來(lái)向聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局報(bào)告了此事。 “最可怕的是，他們已經(jīng)和她建立了這種關(guān)系，她信任他們，”弗蘭說(shuō)。弗蘭補(bǔ)充說(shuō)，他們開(kāi)始詢問(wèn)她的房子有沒(méi)有抵押。“那是他們的下一步計(jì)劃：竊取她的房子。”

But what is far worse is what these schemes do emotionally to older people. “We had to change all my mother’s phone numbers, which meant her friends could not reach her and she lost all confidence and trust in her helpers,” Fran said. “She was mostly just horribly embarrassed,” she added, “and, of course, it affected her health.”

更糟糕的是，這些詐騙活動(dòng)傷害了老年人的感情。“我們更換了媽媽的所有電話號(hào)碼，那意味著，她的朋友們無(wú)法和她取得聯(lián)系，她對(duì)護(hù)理人員也失去了信心和信任，”弗蘭說(shuō)。“最重要的是，她覺(jué)得非常尷尬，”弗蘭補(bǔ)充說(shuō)，“當(dāng)然那也影響了她的健康。”

I know I don’t want to stop my parents from giving money to their favorite community organizations and Catholic charities (as long as they are real ones), nor am I immune to an alluring infomercial (what lured my father into the overpriced bleach box).

我并不想阻止父母捐錢給他們喜歡的社區(qū)組織和天主教慈善機(jī)構(gòu)(只要它們是真實(shí)的)，況且我本人對(duì)誘人的電視促銷節(jié)目(就是誘惑我父親買下高價(jià)漂白水的那種節(jié)目)也沒(méi)有抵抗力。