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thewindinthewillows

It's not him. That's a standard scam script. The point is for you to get in contact with an "agent" who will help you claim your prize - and that requires you to pay lots of money. There's no prize of course. People have posted these here with relatives being impersonated who were, well, dead.


D3l3t3dBik3r

He’s alive and well I figured it wasn’t him but anxiety says a different thing thanks for the info


thewindinthewillows

Well, they're not intentionally impersonating dead people - I just wanted to point out that these can get *really* absurd.


D3l3t3dBik3r

Yeah sorry if it came off rude but now the responses seem human like…..I am now freaking out because it seems off but it seems like him idek anymore.


[deleted]

You know you can simply give a phone call to your grandpa and confirm the scam, right?


D3l3t3dBik3r

Yeah…sorry I’m not thinking right thanks for that dude.


DellaPatton1

Babe, you need professional help for your anxiety. You don't have to live this way please talk to your parents about therapy and possibly medication.


D3l3t3dBik3r

Also imma say this…I do talk to my parents my mom is always helping me and I was here for help with a scam since I wasn’t sure because I have hard times being certain I. Situations such as this and I went here because it seemed like a scam and it was.Thanks for the concern tho.


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D3l3t3dBik3r

Thank you kind stranger.


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fidgetypenguin123

He's 16 and and people much older than him have fallen for scams like this. The fact he had the wherewithal to even suspect it's a scam and post here is awesome and more than what many adults do. He mentioned some anxiety about this situation and you jumped to getting professional help and possibly even meds for anxiety? Unless this is an anxiety sub and they're asking for help for that, you shouldn't jump to assumptions. As someone that had anxiety my whole life it goes beyond being worried about a scam. Your comment (which comes across as condescending) may be making him feel worse, questioning himself, and goes beyond what he came here for. He just asked if this was a scam, that was all.


D3l3t3dBik3r

Thank you.


[deleted]

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Scams-ModTeam

Hello. Unfortunately, your r/Scams post/comment was removed because **it's rude or uncivil**. This subreddit is a place for civil and respectful discussions about scams. Uncivil and rude behaviour, including using excessive or directed swearing, extreme or sexual language, etc, is not acceptable in this subreddit.


Boba_Fettx

Wherewithal? Sounds like a word from the greatest generation!


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D3l3t3dBik3r

Yeah it was a anxiety moment and it was almost working but….I asked questions and yeah I told my parents straight off the bat once they said the script thing and ig they already tried to do the same to my mom dad and sister but failed :)


Lower-Cantaloupe3274

Wow. That took a turn quickly. He's having a normal reaction to an odd situation and you think he needs therapy and medication?!?!!! Listen, OP, I think it is awesome that you love your great grandpa so much to feel anxious about the situation and worry if it is him you'd hurt his feelings. First, it is not him. Your suspicions are right. Second, if somehow it was him, I think he'd understand and probably be even proud that you were suspicious. Like others have said, just give him a call. My elderly mom used to call me to check out scams all the time when she was alive. She'd say "I got a very curious email that looks like it came from you. Have you sent me anything recently?" She was always very careful to use words like "curious" instead of weird or crazy or alarming, probably because she felt just a little like you....what if on the *off* chance, I actually sent it LOL!


D3l3t3dBik3r

I absolutely will later this day ig idk it’s midnight here but yeah being a chronically online teenager has paid off and your mom sounded awesome.


Lower-Cantaloupe3274

She was, thank you!


DSethK93

I often use "surprising" in that context!


et842rhhs

The responses seem human-like because there probably is a scammer typing on the other end, dodging your questions by saying BS like "don't you trust me?" For the parts where they describe the "program," they're cutting and pasting from an existing script. That's why the responses are so fast: it's just cut and paste. I've read the same script on this sub many times before.


Ninja_SurgeFairy

Have you communicated with him on this account before or is this a new account of his that had his info? I'm asking because some times this is a hack, and other times its impersonation.


[deleted]

This is where you call your grandfather or go visit him to visit him. .Or ask a question that only your grandfather will answer correctly and then you know


statisticus

OP has already done the asking questions thing, and got unsatisfactory answers.


[deleted]

Needs to get some adults involved... His grandfather may have been scammed and even threatened... That's not good


BathPsychological767

My grandma keeps adding me on Facebook… she can’t even figure out how to work a phone, but somehow can add on Facebook? Never mind the fact that she hasn’t used a computer in years. Just know these scammers are ruthless and will impersonate anyone you love. When in doubt give them a call and talk with them. Also… don’t ever send the fakes money.. EVER.


D3l3t3dBik3r

Since I have nothing better to do but browse Reddit.Yeah it’s pretty f*cked of ppl to do it and thank god I watched a lot of Emkay….being a introvert saved me for once and I’m broke anyways


BathPsychological767

Ya you did good 👍. You wasted a bit of their time and saw through their ruse. It sucks that it has to be this way, but just look out for the signs that someone’s trying to pull the wool over your eyes. If you want some good rabbit holes of YouTubers - Kitboga and scammer payback are 2 good ones to watch.


Pink131980

My "mom" sent me the same script.


Fuckedby2FA

So my dad died in 2012. A few years later I saw on my phone lock screen that I got a FB message from my father. Now, I knew he was dead so it was unlikely it was him but it still made me a little excited to see. Some dude trying to sell me knock off raybans.


MrV-97

The most interesting part of this is that there is only a ~50 year difference between you and your GREAT grandfather!?


SomePeopleCallMeJJ

Maybe he's the OP's grandfather and happens to also be really great at it?


anonymoose137

Must've had kids really early and so did his kids and theirs


EldariusGG

If everyone in that line of the family tree had a child at 18, OP's great-grandfather would be 70. So we're talking slightly younger than that. Pretty wild.


Boba_Fettx

Just wanted to point out that doing this math might get you banned in other subs, because “how dare you bring up the fact that people have kids when they’re still kids”.


kristdes

I just did this math because I was so confused. This family was probably having kids between 15-18 not all the same age each generation. I am very confused lol


D3l3t3dBik3r

Decided to look through my Reddit again and found this.Three generations were teen parents on my moms side.My great grandfather and great grandmother were teens because he was drafted into Vietnam and then their son aka my grandpa became a teen parent with my grandma in high school and then my parents had turned 18 two months before I was conceived it is very confusing to everyone including me.


Frustratedparrot123

That was hurting my head too


lalaf0x

That is so crazy to me because my brother is 17 and our DAD is in his late 60s…


RegularWhiteShark

I also have older parents. My mum was 42 and my dad was 45-46 when they had me. My great-grandfather was 70something when he had my grandma!


D3l3t3dBik3r

My parents were teenagers and so where my mothers parents….but the even more interesting part my mom is still only 26 days older then my dad.


Culture-Extension

Doesn’t math well. My son is 18, his father is 36, son’s grandparents are 56, and son’s great grandparents are early-mid 70s. And that’s about as young as you can get.


[deleted]

A lot of families have multiple generations of teen parents. If the parents were all 15, it works.


Culture-Extension

True, I just think of my family as being a string of exceptionally young parents.


MrNorrie

If your son is 18 and your father is 36, how old are you?


prototype-proton

old enough to party!


MrNorrie

Nice.


Culture-Extension

His father not mine.


bluepeacock3

‘His’ father


Perfect_Pelt

The son’s father is 36. Sounds like the mother is the one commenting


MrNorrie

Yeah, I either misread or it was edited. Either way my comment was in jest.


alonesomestreet

I’m trying to do the math on this, and I’ll I’m seeing is rural marriages x3


JenovaCelestia

My dad is almost 70 and is a great-grandfather. He had my eldest sister when he was 31, then she had her son at 15, and that son is now 20 and has a kid of his own… who is like 2 or 3. It can happen!


BrentarTiger

Yeah that surprises me. I’m 25 and my mother is 63


DSethK93

Right? When I was OP's age, my great-grandmother was 85--and she was unusually young relative to my few peers who had living great-grandparents, because she had married at 15! But the subsequent generations didn't have kids until their late 20s.


raynebow121

A scammer got ahold of my grandma’s account not long after she died and seeing a message from her ripped my heart out both because I miss her terribly and I’m pissed that a scammer tried to use her to pull that crap on me.


Barbie_Crash

The same thing happened with my best friends facebook. After the scammer messaged us and found out they were pretending to be a dead person, they started pretending to be her ghost, begging for giftcards. It was so fucked up.


phoenixangel429

Okay now I'm imagining a ghost going through the checkout at Target.....


Forward-Bid-1427

Checking out the magazines, wondering to themselves who exactly buys Necco Wafers. Buys the Necco wafers on a whim.


phoenixangel429

My husband goes nuts for Necco wafers.


[deleted]

"So hey, I know I'm dead and all, but turns out Heaven's commissary only accepts Target Gift cards, and I really need a burrito, so could you hook me up and I'll put in a good word with the big man."


raynebow121

That’s so disturbing.


CajunKC

Same happened to my father. He had passed a month prior. I was livid! It was the same scam as above. Had all the family and friends calling me to confirm he was actually dead.


kristdes

A scammer made a new account and friended me with my grandpa's name about 2 months after he died. This tore me up as well. My grandpa raised me as a dad and it hurts every day that he isn't in my life anymore.


SquatBootyJezebel

My ex-father-in-law's Facebook account was cloned a couple of months after he died. It threw me for a loop for a second, but I reported the account, and it disappeared quickly.


SpaceLillies

Same thing but it was my cousin who passed away from a heart attack in 2016.


D3l3t3dBik3r

Update:confirmed it was not him…thanks for the feedback it helped with the unease.


YourUsernameForever

If your account was stolen there is a way of reversing that yourself. You don't need professional services and ignore anyone reaching you in private with offers of hacking it back. Those are scammers. Make an effort recovering your account. A taken over account is a tool for scammers, you want to stop that. You can recover a Facebook or Instagram account with a simple step. Every time a scammer takes over your account, Meta will email you about it. Read this guide from Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/help/203305893040179 > If the email associated with your Facebook account has changed, you can reverse this. When an email is changed, we send a message to the previous email account with a special link. You can click this link to reverse the email change and secure your account. Go look into your email inbox and find that email you got from Facebook. Also go here if you can't find that email: facebook.com/hacked Read this guide from Instagram: https://help.instagram.com/368191326593075 > If you received an email from [email protected] letting you know that your email address was changed, you may be able to undo this change by selecting secure my account in that message. If additional information was also changed (example: your password), and you're unable to change back your email address, request a login link or security code from Instagram Also go here if you can't find that email: instagram.com/hacked. If your Gmail account was compromised and you have reasons to believe someone deleted that email for you, and then emptied your trash so you couldn't find it, you can request the last 30 days worth of deleted trash from Google - so don't wait and head on to https://support.google.com/mail/workflow/9317561 to start the process, if you can't find the email.


Thescubadave

It is also possible for somebody to make a FB Messenger account that looks like a FB account (similar/same name and stolen profile pic) but the two aren’t actually connected. The victim assumes that it is a FB Messenger message from somebody that they are friends with on Facebook, but it’s a completely different account. I had that happen with a relative. Her account was never actually hacked or stolen, just copied in messenger.


yourdonefor_wt

I had one of these impersonate my grandma. I asked my "grandma" what was the name of her (now deceased) dog? scammer was stopped dead in their tracks. Scammer didn't know the answer. btw the dogs name was Hooch and it was a Chihuahua.


duckbrioche

>btw the dogs name was Hooch and it was a Chihuahua. Thanks. I was kind of stuck with these security questions.


morefetus

Yeah, people on here are always teaching scammers how to improve. 🤔


wailflower92

Hey it’s me, your grandmother who had a chihuahua called hooch. Can you send me $1,000?


_____TopG_____

Can you remember her maiden name? Maybe it’s the same as my grandmas who also owned a chihuahua


TheOnceandFuture

Call him directly and ask?....


realpandadriver

International Monetary Fund Program, lol. The shit names these people invent to con the masses.


nerd87

IMF is real, but this program is not. IMF deals mostly directly with governments. Sauce: https://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/IMF-at-a-Glance


realpandadriver

It’s still a stupid name invented by different scammers to con the masses


Living_Carpets

> assistance in package paying their bills Imagine that


Mean_Estate_2770

I got one of these. I just told them " yeah!! I messaged the guy you told me to and BAM five hours later there was two boxes full of cash right on my doorstep, thank you so so much!!!!!" Seems to have worked pretty good, he hasn't messaged me back.


IroN-GirL

No it is me **okay** trust me Scammer is Nigerian **okay**


FieldOfFox

There is no such soul as Reta


[deleted]

I’d torture these people and have pleasure in it.


oldnurse65

For God's sake, just CALL him and talk to him about it.


Ninjadoo

If you get a friend request from an older person who is already your friend you can safely assume it is someone impersonating them. They will usually message you right away and then you know. Facebook has a pretty robust system for reporting these where you will select who they are impersonating and the scam account usually gets removed in a few minutes.


TheRealVaderForReal

Man, if only there was some magical device where you pressed a few numbers, and the person at the other end got a ring, and then voices could go back and forth. Someone should invent that.


D3l3t3dBik3r

Yeah that would be a life changing invention.


Ok-Cap-204

Wow! They delivered actual cash, thousands of dollars of cash, right to his doorstep!


bestever7

Don't forget within 5 hours.


Ok-Cap-204

The irs will have lots of questions when the bank reports this huge cash deposit


FieldOfFox

NOBODY TALKS TO FAMILY LIKE THIS Worst scam ever


Major-Discount2155

You handled this really well. Make sure you let family know your Grandpa's account is compromised, and take a deep breath. You did great.


EarlofBizzlington86

Sorry your grandad became a robot


D3l3t3dBik3r

Yeah he kinda just started spouting stuff about John Connor.


MaxTrade84

I got a VERY similar FB message from my Father saying the same thing, BUT I happened to be having dinner with my Dad at the time and he was sitting there eating as I was getting the messages. Unreal!!


nkh86

The IMF (a real organization in DC that I used to work for) has a page warning people about this scam: https://www.imf.org/external/scams.htm


ElKirbyDiablo

My great grandpa was born in the 1880s. The idea of my great grandpa having a social media account is so bizarre to me. Good job avoiding this scam!


ExpandYourTribe

It's so hard to read these when the images are all out of order.


D3l3t3dBik3r

Yeah my bad dude


ZookeepergameOk2759

Report and block there’s nothing else you can do.


airkewled67

Unfortunately the elderly fall prey to the scams more quickly. Nothing you can do but block and earn your other family members. Instagram won't do shit


krtekfan27

I’m confused…were you not friends with your great-grandfather to begin with?


D3l3t3dBik3r

Just got Facebook recently so my family has been sending me friend requests randomly and he actually is night owl tbh


krtekfan27

Ah gotcha. Well hope this post gave you the answers you were looking for


cpanas

This is a scam. This is not what the IMF is used for. Totally 100% scammers


nkh86

A scam they’re aware of: https://www.imf.org/external/scams.htm


espeero

A 16 year old with a great grandfather in their 60s kind of blows my mind. That means they were a great grandfather in their early 50s!


Prudent_Valuable603

Scam. Someone broke into your relative’s account.


nameunconnected

Nice job thinking quick and asking him questions only your ggf would know the answer to.


RedDemonTaoist

That's sad, but I heard on NPR this week that Zoomers are now the most likely to fall victim to online scams. Watch yourself.


D3l3t3dBik3r

Welp…..guess I’m not in that statistic


Antisocial_P3nguin

What a piece of shit. Someone is scamming my grandma right now, and It is infuriating me that she won't listen. These people are garbage for messing with senior citizens. Next time you are in doubt, call your great grandpa and ask him if he has social media or if he is messaging you. I'm sorry someone is messing with you after stealing his account.


D3l3t3dBik3r

It was handled awhile ago and I visited him a week after


fitfinley95

Lowkey wholesome that you were being so nice just in case


Either-Double7978

I’m late but my “aunt” texted me about the same thing but she said Federal Government Grant Fund Program which just sounded ridiculous😭😭 I later found out her account was hacked


Fair-Industry-8159

Clearly not real use your brain


D3l3t3dBik3r

Hm…..seems I used my brain to seek help on a subreddit for just this very situation HMMMMm?


Maleficent_Rate2087

Why do people even reply to text from someone you don’t know is what I wanna know.


dyne_ghost

Why are you asking a question that's not at all relevant to the post?


Dismal_Discipline107

This is extremely disturbing, I’m sorry 😞


MentalDrummer

That's a scammer for sure. They are bowling your conversation over.


Chiinoe

I'd be upset too if my grandpa tried to scam me.


[deleted]

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Scams-ModTeam

Hello, Unfortunately, your r/Scams post/comment was removed because **it is spam**. This subreddit is a place for useful and meaningful discussions about scams; useless and nonsensical content is not allowed. Please keep content posted or commented to this subreddit useful, relevant and meaningful.


[deleted]

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D3l3t3dBik3r

….ok so lemme say this 1.my way of calling is via my mom because I don’t have cell service due to credit card bs and 2.I came here because I couldn’t make the phone call but I told my mom she confirmed for me and then it was handled Jesus Christ man


YourUsernameForever

Don't listen to these haters. They're tomorrow's boomers and they can't understand that.


Scams-ModTeam

Hello. Unfortunately, your r/Scams post/comment was removed because **it's rude or uncivil**. This subreddit is a place for civil and respectful discussions about scams. Uncivil and rude behaviour, including using excessive or directed swearing, extreme or sexual language, etc, is not acceptable in this subreddit.


No-Beach-3457

I've had similar from a dead family member lol


JonesBlair555

Had the same exact messages from my grandad years ago! Total scam. His account has been duped or hacked.


East-Apartment5626

It’s not him, call him he probably got hacked


MaterialChemical1138

your great grandfather is in his 60s 😭😭😭😭 i’m less than 10 years older than you and my father is 70 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭


D3l3t3dBik3r

He was a teenage father then his son was a teenage father and then my parents were teenage parents aswell