Just dodged a bullet, so to speak...

[W3WN]

So, about a half hour ago, as I'm sitting down to lunch, my cell phone rings. It's my mother-in-law.

She's in a panic, and wants to know if Little Miss Field Day is in school today. (She's not, home sick).

Long story short... my father-in-law had gotten a phone call, allegedly from LMFD. Story is, she and "a friend" were given two plane tickets to Mexico City last night by "some guy", and when they arrived, they were allegedly picked up on drug charges. So she needs $2500 for bail and $4000 for the attorney.

Yeah, right.

M-I-L spoke with LMFD right after we talked, so that part's cool.

And all the banking/wire funds transfer & contact info my F-I-L wrote down? Now in the hands of his township's police department, and they WILL follow up on it. (How do I know that? He's on borough council, and he chairs the committee that oversees the police department... ) Probably will lead to a dead end, but you never know.

Meanwhile, the Boss just got another email, allegedly from her ex-husband's new wife. She is, allegedly, in Israel, and guess what happened to her, and guess how much money she needs wired to her?

UN freaking believable.

And least my family won't fall for this crap, but obviously, all too many others do (if it didn't work, they wouldn't keep doing it)

[NQ6U]

Dear Friend;

Your dog was recently picked up by the Mexico City Animal Control Center. There is a required payment of 13,000 pesos, plus 4,000 pesos transportation costs or we will be forced to euthanize her. Please remit the payment to the following address:

Engañe al Gringo, SA
Boulevard Federico Benítez López, P113
Tijuana, BC, Mexico

[kb2vxa]

That raises a couple of questions like do the in-laws have a land line or cell phones? If a land line, yet another reason to use an answering machine like I have to screen incoming calls like the one I got just now from the legal department of so in so for someone I never heard of. BTW telemarketers call one after the other all day long and as soon as they hear the outgoing message move on to the next number on the list to harass. Now if it's a cell phone how do they get the numbers when all a reverse look-up gets is the number of the provider, those numbers being proprietary? Never mind that one, it's a rhetorical question.

"So she needs $2500 for bail and $4000 for the attorney."
That's the tip off right there, the Mexican courts don't have a bail system so the prisoner is not released until all the bribes... I mean fines are paid. That's why FYI the AAA has advised for many years never drive a car in Mexico, people get locked up in the money mill for the slightest "infraction" of whatever "law" the arresting officer cooked up.

[NQ6U]

I got a good one a while back: A guy with a heavy Indian accent who told me he was from "the IRS Department." I replied "No, you're not" and he got pretty testy, threatening me with all sorts of horrible administrative actions. I just laughed, messed with him a bit more, then hung up. Damned if the fucker didn't call back and tell me that an agent would appear at my door in the next few days. Unsurprisingly, no one ever showed.

[n2ize]

I got a good one a while back: A guy with a heavy Indian accent who told me he was from "the IRS Department." I replied "No, you're not" and he got pretty testy, threatening me with all sorts of horrible administrative actions. I just laughed, messed with him a bit more, then hung up. Damned if the fucker didn't call back and tell me that an agent would appear at my door in the next few days. Unsurprisingly, no one ever showed.

Don't worry, he'll be there. Travel from Pakistan is slow.... LOL. :lol: