My dad has fallen for a scam.

Ok,

First, as another user said lock his credit reports, all 3 of them, from a different computer. It’s not up for discussion and gets done IMMEDIATELY. And you need to renew the locks as some of them are time-limited.

Second, that computer is now DOA, it gets replaced / reformatted. No one, especially not your “expert friend”, can find every possible bit of malware.

Third, go into his bank accounts, credit cards, etc., set up notifications for anything above a certain limit, and whatever else they offer.

Fourth, he gets a credit card, with a smaller limit, if you can. That can be hard to do, but it can mitigate the crazy.

Further, and this is the worst part, but just as important as everything else,

* All passwords get changed. If he doesn’t have a password manager, likely not, everything gets recreated, even if he had a password manager. Too bad. He had access to the computer, he could have easily downloaded the information.
* Account emails get changed, ie. the email used to create the account.
* I would change my login ID’s, if possible too.
* If the website has security questions, those get changed too. Don’t answer, “where was I born” with the city he was born in, change it to something made up.
* Do the high priority stuff, first, investments, banks, loans, credit cards, shopping, but, eventually, as in as soon as you can, everything.

Finally, dad just lost his financial privileges. This can be hard in all kinds of ways, but that’s how it is after this. He can’t be trusted any more. This is dumb as F***.

For the record, I’ve done dumb things, I’ve been hacked multiple times, my personal information was given away by Anthem 3 times, plus other places that I know of. I’ve had charges just appear on credit cards too, but so far, my identity hasn’t been used. Identity theft, can be an absolute nightmare to deal with, and law enforcement won’t do bleep for you.

Jolo, what happens when dad starts getting harassing phone calls about unpaid debt? New car(s), credit cards, home leases, medical care. Om my, think about the challenges created with hospice if someone uses his identity to seek medical care. Medicare will not pay for both and hospice isn't going to be there unless they are getting paid.

That's the problem letting others have complete access to all your personal information. They do things in his name and he gets to prove it wasn't him. Identity theft is a major pain to deal with and if he is dying, do you really want him to have to deal with something like this?

Just saying, because I can't imagine the nightmare it could create for all of you.

Best of luck.

Jolobo

If your dad has no assets then what are you worried about?

Does your dad receive Social Security into his bank account? Does dad have a bank account?

I’m sure the scammer will be happy to wait until his check comes in. Does dad need his SS to pay his utilities, buy his meds, buy his food?
Were you planning to start paying for all that for him?

Maybe I’m missing something here. 🤔

Defintely time to freeze the credit from the three credit unions or put fraud warning on them. Experion. Transunion, and I forget the third, but reporting to one will put a warning out for all. This could end in identify theft which would be major. Don't know if you are POA but you can freeze credit online. Then it takes a code to unlock and open credit in his name. This can get very serious.

I am definitely calling the bank on Tuesday and also hospice, because he said that a hospice worker was "fixing" his computer for 2 hours last week. Something fishy there. She also set up a new email for him, so she knows his login info. That's not right.

He really has no money to steal at all. He is now saying he will get $500 cash from his credit card.

Notifying the bank is the least of your worries right now.

Dads computer and ALL of his assets need protecting from whatever took this scammer 3 hours to do.

The bank probably won't intervene, you need to help him, even if that means getting a trusted friend to help him.

This is waaaaaay more serious then a $500.00 bank draft.

Call the bank and ask them to be on the lookout for any suspicious transactions. Take his computer to either a local repair shop or like GeekSquad. His computer needs to be scanned for any types for viruses and trojans they may have put on there. I am sure they used a remote viewing software commonly TeamViewer. That definitely needs to be removed.

They are very creative in how they scam people.

My dad came VERY close to letting the scammers clean out his account. He just happened to text me while he was in the middle of the phone call w scammers. I immediately got on his bank account and changed his passwords. It is infuriating!

Can I call the bank and warn them about this ahead of my dad getting there? I wonder if they will prevent it from happening?

Take him and his computer to a brick and mortar computer store and ask them to do the work this scammer is offering.

If he allowed this hacker external access it is imperative that you get this done or he could be cleaned out financially.

If your Dad already went too far into this particular scam and they got access to computer he may get everything locked down and frozen before he can even do the payoff. Go to AARP and look at their scam information. There's a lot on their site. I am so sorry this happened. There are even some scammers who send a car, believe it or not.

I sure wish you luck. We used to have someone adept at computer information on AC; wish I could think of something for you, and hope others can.