An elderly woman committed suicide after she was scammed out of her life savings by robocall “fraudsters.”
On Thursday, a Texas woman explained to the U.S. Justice Department how a con artist scammed her 82-year-old grandmother out of her entire life savings, which resulted in the elderly woman becoming so devastated that she took her own life.
Her grandmother was named Marjorie Earl Jones. “What should have been some of the best years in the last chapter of her life was taken from her. She was robbed in every sense,” Stancik said. The woman said her grandmother fell for a sweepstakes scam, according to 7 On Your Side, in which she was told she won money but needed to pay taxes and fees.
The woman ended up sending all of her money to the scammers and later had to borrow money from family members. She then took out all of her insurance and committed suicide with only $69 in her bank account.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions and other Justice Department officials listened to Stancik’s account. “It happens far too often in this country,” Sessions said. 7 On Your Side has several recorded incidents and investigations of scammers. Sessions said more than 200 suspects have been arrested in the past year for elder fraud schemes.
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I get these calls all the time. I got one the other day. The text said they had just received a 450K grant from the U.N. and that I should apply. My phone warned me the text was from Nigeria where a hot bed of scams originate. I replied, I had just won the publishers clearing house sweepstakes and was getting 50K a month for life!!!!! Thanks, I don’t need the money and ended with a big smiley face with laughing tears running down its face. I haven’t heard from them since. Older people are the main target of these scams, and this one was tragic. These older people grew up in a time when a handshake was a contract and your word was gold. As we know, not anymore. Education is the best weapon and the government is working on it. It is a huge problem because it is international and without world co-operation it is really difficult to find and bring these people to justice.