MY ADVICE -- Do what my senior friend does. Tell everyone that they can mail you a letter but that you do not do business with people who call you on the phone.
ANYTIME SOMEONE CALLS -- Get their phone number, their name, and the name of their business. Make them spell out the names. Then tell them you will call them back. When you call back, use the phone number that you get from the phone company.
DO NOT SEND ANY MONEY TO A PERSON "IN TROUBLE", unless you KNOW the person and have SPOKEN to the person. (MANY PEOPLE IN PRISON spend their time begging for money using the mail or the internet.) KNOW THE PERSON means that you have met the person face to face many times and that you have met the person's friends and family. FOR ANY MONEY SENT, get a promissory note, in writing, saying how much money was given and that the person promises to pay it back. NEVER GIVE SOMEONE MONEY THAT YOU NEED TO USE FOR FOOD OR RENT.
THERE IS A NEW FRAUD where people call up pretending to be your grandchild in jail who needs bail. To double check, do not call the jail. Call a bail bondsman from the area where the jail is supposed to be. Have the bail bondman check to see if your grandchild is actually in jail. Send the money directly to the bail bondsman so that the kid can be bailed out. DO NOT SEND CASH to a "friend".
BEFORE SENDING MONEY TO ANYONE -- ask a trusted friend if sending the money is a good idea. ALWAYS REMEMBER that a request for money could be a fraud.
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