Just talked to my friend Angie, who celebrated her 90th birthday in July
Her phone no. had been disconnected so I had to go thru the switchboard at her exclusive assisted living facility on the Main Line where she's a charter resident, having moved in when she was slightly older than me - her late sixties.
Angie is one of the most brilliant women I know. As a woman scientist, she broke thru 'glass ceilings' where no woman had tread before. Her last years in the work force were spent teaching science at Hunter College in NYC.
Whenever I write her, I make sure to add "PhD' behind her name.
So, it was a great surprise when she told me why she changed her phone no.
She was being hounded by a Jamaican con man who called her every day for the past two years.
This intelligent street-smart woman fell for his game. She was to mail $1,500 thru Western Union to him in Jamaica so he could arrange for the $5,000 she won in some sort of lottery or sweepstakes to be sent directly to her.
It was only when she asked the woman at the Western Union if she thought the transaction odd, that she realized she was being 'had.'
Ironically, her older brother, Peter, 95, who lives with his aide on Park Avenue, also received the same sort of phone call, also from Jamaica. Quite weak and enfeebled by age, he and his reluctant aide marched down the sidewalks of New York to deliver the bounty to the Western Union man.
The aide, w/ the help of the Western Union operator, finally persuaded this retired corporate executive to hold onto his money.
How could two undeniably smart people become such easy prey for the cons?
I expressed this enigma to Angie, stating, "If you were 20 years younger you would never have fallen for this scam."
She readily agreed.
Calling all scientists: What wires get loose in the brains of the elderly? Can the condition be a cousin to anosgonesia?
I don't expect an answer, but, jing-a-ling-a-ling, it's the phone ringing. Collect call from Kingston. Gotta run. You never know what good fortune awaits on the other end.
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Oh how sad about Angie. I don't know her or her condition, but yes, something does happen to the wires of people who have dementia,if she does. There are multiple causes of dementia, other than Alzheimer's, as I am sure you know. One of the things that began to go with my mil, before the memory impairment became significant, the emotional lability presented, or other deficits, was that she became considerbly more gullible than she had been and her judgment about some things was impaired. Sometimes it was/is judgment about small things and safety issues, such as not bending over to pick up a piece of paper because of her impaired balance and the fact that she is a fall-risk. It also involved giving near-strangers things/information and making donations she could not afford on the phone and in the mail. She also bought a lot of items with her charge card and they were often things she did not need, could not afford and promptly forgot about.
ReplyDeleteWhat sort of vermin preys on the elderly?
i knew you could relate to this sad story, iris. thanks for commenting.
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