grandmother scammed out of 50.000 $ and she won't listen!!

Help my grandmother has been targeted by Jamaican Lottery scammers since November !!
We've tried everything to help. My mom even made herself her guardian through a seemingly never ending lawsuit, so that my grandmother can't give them anymore money.

Our biggest Problem is that we live in Germany and she lives in Florida. My mom has been there since January but has to leave the country every now and then. The scammers have her totally brainwashed. She doesn't listen to anybody, she threathens herself, my mom and now my brother whos made time to go there and help.

Its killing me that I can't do anything from here. My grandmother has already given them 50.000 $. Now she can't give them anymore, but they won't stop calling. She's 85 years old and sweet as sugar. She doesn't deserve this torment so late in life.
They have turned her against her whole family. She believes every word they say. They call her at least 3 times a day and then she begs (!) my mom for money.
My mom is worried because soon she'll have to leave the country again. How is she going to give her foodmoney? She tried giving her a card to go shopping and my grandmother sent them the card which they are now using to scam others.
I don't know if they have threathened her. We've had police and the FBI at her house.
We've had a person come to evaluate her mental health. Just havin screamed and threathened my mom with a knife, she acts totally normal when they arrive and they do nothing. We're just always told to not give her any money.

The scammers ask for small amounts for rediculous stories why the haven't delivered the money and need more. Everything from the courier being stuck in traffic and needing gas money to bailing them out of jail, where they were placed innocently (!) And its been going on for half a year !

Please, does anybody know a way we could convince her that she's being scammed? We've tried evreything from showing her scam warnings to even talking with the supposed lottery house to let her hear that she can't win if she hasn't entered and that she wouldn't have to pay any fees.
Does anyone live in Florida on this board and would be willing to visit her and talk to her?
I just need all the help I can get before she doesn't recognize us anymore and takes this story to her grave!!
I will be glad to provide more info once I've talked to my mom.

I really hope that the people who are behind this scam burn in hell !!

Is there any possibility that you could cut off the avenues by which the scammers are contacting her?

Change of phone number, trash any email addresses she has and then destroy any contact details that she might use herself to speak to the scammers?

Thanks for your reply Chris Smith ,

We have tried that. She just goes and changes it back. My mom has tried again and again to convince her to come to germany with her. I think they call her on a mobile or she calls them. At this point I'm not so sure who calls who. My mom has made it so that she can't call outside of the states except germany on her landline.

As far as I know they never contacted her by email and she has sold the computer my mom got her for more money.

As for the destroying of contact emails. I would try that, but I'm not there. I really need to talk to my mom again to give you more information. I will call her.

As for the destroying of contact emails. I would try that, but I'm not there. I really need to talk to my mom again to give you more information. I will call her.

I meant contact details, of course.

Welcome sunny*starflower84. I'm so sorry to hear this horror story your family is dealing with. Your mom has already taken many of the steps we would recommend, it will be tough to convince your grandmother to stop contact. As Chris suggests, blocking any of her ability to contact them (destroy the information she has for them, phone numbers, etc so she can't call them!) is one more option but won't convince her of the scam, unfortunately.
The Jamaican lottery scammers do target the elderly and most often make their initial contact by telephone, not email.
I am willing to try to contact your grandmother by phone and will send you a private message with further information about this.

thank you very much for all the replys.
I have talked to my mom. What my grandmother did was, after they changed her phone number she went to a friend and called the scammers from the friends place. Then gave the scammers the new number. My mom has drowned her cell phone in the toilet and even flushed. It doesn't help.
She has memorized their number.
I made a mistake with her age. She's actually 83. I guess after all this time she seems so much older.
Convincing her would be my top priority. Then the calls would stop.

Thank you Jillian. I would like for her to be contacted by phone, very much. Thank you for the offer.

My brother asked me if they would stop calling if they didn't get anymore money. My mom has made arrangements that she can't pay anything herself anymore. Friends will instead make her payments for her.

All of the actions your family is taking are definite right steps to try to get control of the situation.

Yes, with no payments scammers will eventually give up. Since they have been getting payments from her for so long, it could take quite some time before they give up on her, I'm afraid. I have seen scammers still periodically targeting previous victims through emails months or even years later. The best course of action, if we can manage it, is to get her to realize the scam so that she can resist them. We may not be able to succeed but it is worth the effort.

What does she say to you when you confront her, and try to convince her it is a scam?


Really sorry to hear what has happened

Hi sunny*starflower 84
It sounds a sad story there.
The only advice I can suggest is perhaps you could make contact with Consumer Protection or some other Government department that deals with fraud? They would surely offer good advice also, to help you.
It sounds like you have many measures in place already which is a credit to you.

What does she say to you when you confront her, and try to convince her it is a scam?


Really sorry to hear what has happened

Thank you jolly_roger and woolycloud.
She ended our last conversation with: 'I'm finished now with you too.' It hurts. Though I know that she doesn't mean to be mean I think she's triing to protect herself that way. I lold her we love her and I make sure she knows that we don't blame her and that nobody needs the money. She just won't listen. The scammer wants 50 (!) Dollars from her now and she tries to convince us again and again that she will get her money back after that. I am scared that it will go on for ever. That f* scammer might just get tired of her and pass on his 'project'. We think that the person who initially called her in november was someone else who called himself Mr. Ashley. She now talks to 'David'. Though it could be the same Person.
When we confront her she first listens until we mention scam. She denies it. Sometimes she cries. But with all the tries she's never believed us. Or we've kind of convinced her and then 'guess who' calls and totally brainwashes her. My mom says it may be a very bad connection of the situation with beginning dementia and that she might never get out of it again.I never though that anything like this could happen.
As for the people we've contacted. I'm sure my mom has contacted everybody possible, but I will ask her about it.

I have no psychological qualification and can't offer any easy answers but, from what I've seen in equally tragic situations is that the scammer manages to isolate the victim from all their friends and associates until the scammer is their only contact with the world, and though the victim may become aware that they are beng scammed, they hang on to them as their only remaining social contact.

The scammer won't hesitate to attempt to persuade her to pay him her food money or money for medecines and take on loans. These situations can become a nightmare, even moreso for the family who can see what's happening.

This shows they have no heart at all
I am so sorry to read this. As Chris has suggested, best suggestion would be IMO to cut her connection with the scammers off. When they cannot call her 3 times a day any more, and she can talk to some normal people, who are understanding, this might be the start of finding back into reality, slowly but without any scammer interference. They only want more money and more money, they have no winnings to ofer
I can only try to understand the helpless situation of your family
Sorry but I have no better idea than the above...

Hi
just wanted to say, that this is still going on. I now have some information from a friend who asked her german lawyer friend about it.
Apparently these people are part of a huge organisation and have been active for 20 years. They work to steal the victims identity completely.They brainwash her. I'm pretty sure, that she's also told frequently to stop eating so that she will be weaker, when they call her next. I know its part of brainwashing to have food withheld from the victim. My grandmother tells them everything she does and they instruct her in what to do next. My friend says, that after my grandmother talks to them, she works like a machine. She's 85 years old and nobody at that age should be able to be this calculating.
My gran was going to come to Germany for my wedding and the scammers talked to her beforehand.
She blackmailed my mother on the phone, that she wouldn't get on the plane if she didn't send 300 Dollars! Not me not my fiance could convince her to come and we decided against bringing her over. Naturally we could not let ourselves be blackmailed and have no idea, what she would have done, once she was over here.
What my gran would need is close observation in a closed senior citizen home, to have her phonecalls monitored, so they cant call her. We can't shut off her phone while she is living at home, because she wouldn't be able to call anybody if she got hurt or something happened.
The government of Florida makes it hard for my Mom to be a guardian of her person. We can't force her into assisted living and that's the biggest problem. She's supposed to take pills for early dementia but there's nobody there to check that. Ideally we would have her brought over to germany into a home. But try having a person shipped out of the USA against their will. It makes me so mad, because we just want to help.To do all this would cost a fortune in law fees and will probably take longer than grandmother has left to live.
Is there an easier way?
I'm thinking about spreading our story across the net or to alert the media about this. If you've had similar experiences please write me on this forum.
We have realized, that there is probably nothing that could help my grandmother at this point, but we could alert the public to this problem. What should we do? Do you think alerting the public would help? Or could it be dangerous to do this. Should I try to collect signatures to convince the Government to have her brought over to germany. Any suggestions are welcome.
Thanks for reading.