I'm so sorry. Place an immediate freeze on her credit reports. You only have to place a freeze on one credit agency and that agency will notify the other two. This way no scum can get credit cards or loans in her name. (Be aware if your mother has legitimate financial happenings, say getting a home equity loan, this freeze can really foul up the process. If so, at a minimum, put a fraud alert on her credit reports to place a hold on all actions.)
If your mother has dementia or diagnosed with Alzheimer's (your profile doesn't state if she does or doesn't) contact Discover again and appeal the charge. Even if your mom just made a big mistake, appeal anyway. It might work.
Contact the police. While they may not be able to do much--likely the scumbags are out of the country--they can be aware there are scams going on in their community and warn the public.
Since the scumbags now know she's an easy target, she can expect more phone calls. My poor mom finally admitted she was getting phone calls ten minutes every day! I immediately changed her landline phone number and made it unlisted. Be prepared to change the phone number.
Good luck. Hopefully this event scared her enough to never do it again. Even poor Mom with her dementia she never forgot that experience (luckily she never lost any money. An alert bank teller stopped it all.)
How old is your mom & is she mentally competent? Did she have a legitimate need for a debt consolidation company? I ask only because I do know someone who hadn’t filed any taxes for 4 years and was in big trouble b/o this; she worked with a debt consolidation company who did manage to help straighten out her taxes and other debts and the fee she paid to the debt consolation company was about the same as charged to your mother. While $5K is a lot of money the fee was worth it as my friend stated they did a great job to get the debt negotiated to what the person could afford & my friend is now up to date on her taxes and the IRS is off her back.
She does not have dementia and is competent. When she went to the bank they said there was nothing they could do. She called Discover and they said too bad.
She trusted someone and that cost her. I just feel it is unfair because she truly needs debt consolidation and now she is in deeper debt.
I will did tell her that she should never give her SS# over the phone. I do not think she will ever again but she is on a fixed income and adding $5000 to that makes it very difficult for her.
Thank you for your advice. I will try to call Discover myself and maybe they will be more reasonable.
Why is the bank involved? Is this a debit or credit card? Regardless both are probably right. They felt that mom should have done due diligence before giving out her personal info, and probably should have hung up the phone when asked for her SS. They could think she knew what she was doing, has second thoughts and wants to cancel the transaction.
As someone stated call the police, make a report, get the a copy of the report. Call Discover again, tell them that you filed a police report and you want to appeal that charger. Make sure you talk to a manager; someone who can make decisions for the bank. You may have to be "like a dog with a bone". Keep calling them! And explain that your mom is not all there even if she is. It is worth a shot!
My mom fell victim to a similar scam, the one where “Microsoft” calls and claims they detected viruses on your computer & offer to fix it. We were not able to successfully dispute the charges with Discover because it all came down to the fact that she authorized them to charge her credit card.
I would challenge your assumption that your mother has no cognitive impairment. Either she is not very sophisticated and is not aware of very basic security measures (and thus there should be some supervision around for her) or she's lost some level of cognitive functioning and there should be some level of supervision.
I have no advise about how to remedy the problem with the credit card; you say she's in financial difficulties? Can that be chalked up to cognitive difficulties as well?
I think perhaps you are not looking at the larger picture here.
She clearly cannot have a regular cc. You could provide her with a pre paid card with a small amount. I would annoy the hell out of Discover as they are conducting business with a fraudulent company. I would mention elder fraud. I had to do that with one company. It tends to get a reaction at times. I would also refuse to pay the bill if there is a bill. I would also go to the bank that provides the card. It doesn't matter if poster didn't indicate dementia. There is clearly a problem if she is giving out her ss# over the phone. I have had to change credit card 4 times for my mother over much smaller issues. That card should be cancelled and you need to have a clear frank discussion with her.
If your mother has dementia or diagnosed with Alzheimer's (your profile doesn't state if she does or doesn't) contact Discover again and appeal the charge. Even if your mom just made a big mistake, appeal anyway. It might work.
Contact the police. While they may not be able to do much--likely the scumbags are out of the country--they can be aware there are scams going on in their community and warn the public.
Since the scumbags now know she's an easy target, she can expect more phone calls. My poor mom finally admitted she was getting phone calls ten minutes every day! I immediately changed her landline phone number and made it unlisted. Be prepared to change the phone number.
Good luck. Hopefully this event scared her enough to never do it again. Even poor Mom with her dementia she never forgot that experience (luckily she never lost any money. An alert bank teller stopped it all.)
She trusted someone and that cost her. I just feel it is unfair because she truly needs debt consolidation and now she is in deeper debt.
I will did tell her that she should never give her SS# over the phone.
I do not think she will ever again but she is on a fixed income and adding $5000 to that makes it very difficult for her.
Thank you for your advice. I will try to call Discover myself and maybe they will be more reasonable.
Good luck!
I have no advise about how to remedy the problem with the credit card; you say she's in financial difficulties? Can that be chalked up to cognitive difficulties as well?
I think perhaps you are not looking at the larger picture here.