Our particularly elderly uncle had been living in her own lake condo as a widow for several years… There were enough of her own children who lived nearby who could stop in to pay her a visit and tend to her needs without requiring any outside assistance… Every one of us knew that 1 day she wouldn’t be able to stay in her own home, although no 1 wanted to admit it, then what the people I was with and I didn’t foresee is that Aunt Jo would be scammed by a supplier impersonating her heating and cooling dealer, but it all began when she received a cellphone call from someone claiming that her Heating and A/C system was due for repair, however she didn’t think the name on her caller ID and told them that her Heating and A/C supplier was so-and-so.
- The caller then claimed that they had taken over her Heating and A/C supplier’s repair programs and that her furnace was due for an inspection and cleaning.
They told her that the inspection would cost fifty dollars and that a serviceman would be there the next day, and completely convinced, she agreed to the appointment and, as they promised, a woman arrived the particularly next day, naturally the scam artist was dressed in official-looking clothes, was friendly, and carried with him a shop vac and a toolbox, however after our uncle led him to the basement, she busied herself upstairs until she was finished, which is when she presented her with the bill. She was shocked to see that the charge was for several hundred dollars! When she balked at the amount, she abruptly became quite intimidating and she felt that she had no option however to write him a check to cover the bill; Once she left, she called her Heating and A/C supplier to complain about the bill. Imagine her surprise when she l gained that it was a scam!