I recently saw a movie about skimming the elderly. It started with a cheerful grandfather who danced with others. His grandson who lived with him also called him to ask how he was doing. With just one phone call, the cheerful grandfather, who managed to pass his time, turned into a panicked old man who collected his money all over the house and handed it over to a stranger outside his home to save his grandson.
Why did Grandpa go to all this trouble? Because he got a call from a man who said he was from the police. Of course grandson had had an accident and it was his fault and moreover grandson's car was uninsured. Would it happen to me to fall for such a baloney story? Maybe not so fast, but it doesn't say it won't happen to me.
Now I have no grandson and no son or daughter, no relationship so that too falls away but scammers are smart I have to give them that.
Grandpa ends up in hospital due to all the stress and grandson investigates himself because he does not have much faith in the police. Also, grandson participates in a self-help group for the elderly who have been scammed. The chatter about what happened, how you can be so stupid not to hang up the phone and give out private information so easily to a complete stranger doesn't seem to help the elderly. They meet for another reason. The real therapy begins when the talk is over.
One by one, the victims tell what they would do if they met their scammer and then they drink and then the second round begins. The elders are going to shoot and if you ask me that's a good way to take it off. In any case, the frightened elderly feel stronger because they share the same fears and anger and can express it among themselves without the therapist. Perhaps the average therapist can learn something from this.
The grandson devises a way to get the scammer's attention and the company he works for (a call center) comes in handy. Although things don't go as planned, he manages to find the scammer, a bald young man who doesn't care about abusing his own grandmother and calling her a useless and unwanted person for society, in a short time. That is certainly something the average police officer can take an example from.
The grandson (az unoka) is a great Hungarian film (see Netflix) about scamming and shows how easy it is to be manipulated, but also that the average scammer is not as smart as he thinks.
Prompt @mariannewest