美國電話詐騙花樣百出 卻令人備感熟悉

Barely a week passes in this house without one of us picking up the phone to an automated call offering my parents a free medical alert system. Of course, it is not free, but rather a well-known fraud trying to get their credit card information either for a donation, shipping or some additional emergency service.

我家幾乎每週總會有人接到自動語音電話，向我父母提供免費醫療警報系統。當然，它不是免費的，而是衆所周知的詐騙電話，以捐款、運送或者提供附加應急服務爲名，竊取信用卡信息。

Luckily, because I live with my parents, who are in their 80s, I am not only their medical alert system (shout if you fall) but also their fraud alert system (hang up if they call). Last month, there was the guy who phoned saying my mother had made an appointment with a lawn service (she had not), asking for a prepayment. Then there was the large package that arrived a few days ago — some cleaning supplies my father bought that, unbeknown to him, did not cost $12 but rather $100, once the extra fees were added to what appeared to be a box of Clorox. “The moment I gave my credit card, they automatically added more products I didn’t want,” he told me in his defense.

我的父母都80多歲了。幸運的是，我和他們住在一起，我不僅是他們的醫療警報系統（如果他們摔倒了，大喊一聲我就聽到了），而且是他們的詐騙警報系統（如果有人打詐騙電話，我會讓他們掛掉）。上個月，有個傢伙打電話說我媽預約了修草坪服務（她其實沒有預約），要求提前付款。幾天前，我們收到了一個大包裹，裏面是我爸在不知情的情況下購買的一些清潔用品，不過，費用不是12美元，而是100美元，那箱東西不過是高樂氏漂白水，卻增加了額外費用。“我一提供自己的信用卡，他們就自動添加了一些我不想要的產品， ”我爸爲自己辯護說。

My friend Karen’s biggest problem with her mother, who lives in an assisted living facility, is not her mind (she has early dementia) but rather her mail (60 solicitations a day).

我的朋友凱倫(Karen)的媽媽住在養老院裏。凱倫最擔心的不是媽媽的頭腦（她有早期老年癡呆症），而是她的信件（每天60封）。

“Many days she will tell me she is too busy doing her ‘work’ to go out to lunch with me,” said Karen, who discovered last year just how many thousands of dollars in checks her mother was writing to organizations claiming to protect Social Security, wildlife, children in need and the military (including one asking for funds to buy sewing kits for soldiers in Afghanistan). “She thinks she is paying her bills,” said Karen, adding that many of the letters are stamped “act now” or “overdue,” even though she obviously owes nothing to these charities, many of which are bogus.

“她經常跟我說，她忙着處理事務，不能跟我出去吃午飯，”凱倫說。去年，她發現媽媽籤的支票中有上萬美元是捐給一些自稱保護社會安全或野生動物、救助貧困兒童或軍隊的機構（其中有個機構居然要求捐款給阿富汗的士兵買針線包）。“她以爲自己在付賬單，”凱倫說。她補充說，很多信上印有“現在行動”或“早該發生”的字樣，儘管她顯然並不欠欠那些慈善機構什麼東西，而且其中很多是冒牌機構。

Karen’s mother is now angry that her daughter has taken away her checkbook, since neither Karen nor the staff members have the time to sort through bags of mail each day. “Once you give money to one of these scams, the others seem to find you and the mail just increases,” said Karen, who now fears her mother is sending cash donations. But it was another incident — in which her mother nearly agreed to meet a man in a parking lot who claimed her grandson was in trouble and in need of $5,000 — that truly frightened my friend. (Fortunately, it was thwarted by her mother’s banker calling Karen with a head’s up that she had just requested a cashier’s check for an emergency.)

現在，凱倫的媽媽爲女兒拿走支票簿而生氣。因爲凱倫和養老院的工作人員都沒時間每天整理那一大堆的信件。“一旦某個詐騙團伙騙走了你的錢，其他團伙似乎就找到了你，信件就會不斷增加，”凱倫說。現在她擔心媽媽直接送現金捐款。不過這是另一樁事件：她媽媽差點同意和一個男人在停車場會面，後者聲稱她的外孫遇到了麻煩，需要5000美元。這真的嚇壞了凱倫（幸運的是，這次詐騙被銀行出納員挫敗了。這位出納員給凱倫打電話，說她媽媽聲稱自己遇到了緊急情況，要求獲得銀行本票）。

My friend Fran’s mother, however, was not so lucky, and within a month lost $40,000 to a network of phone thieves, who told her she had won a contest with a large cash prize that would be deposited into her bank account once she gave them access. After giving them her bank and credit card account numbers, they then linked them to a PayPal account from which they proceeded to steal her money. It was only after they pirated her landline, which was then used to robocall their other victims around the world, that her children, now unable to reach her at home, discovered what was happening to their mother.

不過我的朋友弗蘭(Fran)的媽媽就沒有這麼幸運了。她在一個月內損失了四萬美元，因爲一個手機盜詐騙團伙告訴她，她贏了一場競賽，獲得了一大筆現金獎金。只要他們獲得授權，就把獎金存入她的銀行賬戶。他們在獲取銀行和信用卡賬戶號碼之後，就把它們和貝寶(PayPal)的一個賬戶關聯起來，從那裏偷她的錢。他們還盜用她的固定電話給世界各地的其他受害者撥打自動語音電話，她的孩子們因此打不通她家裏的電話，這才知道發生了什麼事。

“They were calling her on her cellphone all day and night, demanding more and more information they promised would result in her winning this prize money,” recalled Fran, who then contacted the F.B.I. “The scariest thing is they had built up this relationship with her and she trusted them,” Fran said, adding that they had started asking about whether she had a mortgage on the house. “That was what was next on their agenda, taking her home.”

“他們一天到晚往她的手機上打電話，要求獲得更多信息，他們向她保證那些信息能幫助她獲得那筆獎金，”弗蘭回憶說。她後來向聯邦調查局報告了此事。“最可怕的是，他們已經和她建立了這種關係，她信任他們，”弗蘭說。弗蘭補充說，他們開始詢問她的房子有沒有抵押。“那是他們的下一步計劃：竊取她的房子。”

But what is far worse is what these schemes do emotionally to older people. “We had to change all my mother’s phone numbers, which meant her friends could not reach her and she lost all confidence and trust in her helpers,” Fran said. “She was mostly just horribly embarrassed,” she added, “and, of course, it affected her health.”

更糟糕的是，這些詐騙活動傷害了老年人的感情。“我們更換了媽媽的所有電話號碼，那意味着，她的朋友們無法和她取得聯繫，她對護理人員也失去了信心和信任，”弗蘭說。“最重要的是，她覺得非常尷尬，”弗蘭補充說，“當然那也影響了她的健康。”

I know I don’t want to stop my parents from giving money to their favorite community organizations and Catholic charities (as long as they are real ones), nor am I immune to an alluring infomercial (what lured my father into the overpriced bleach box).

我並不想阻止父母捐錢給他們喜歡的社區組織和天主教慈善機構（只要它們是真實的），況且我本人對誘人的電視促銷節目（就是誘惑我父親買下高價漂白水的那種節目）也沒有抵抗力。

My family still kids me about the ’70s box set (12 CDs of Tony Orlando and Dawn, the Captain & Tennille and Helen Reddy) that I was seduced into buying for an exorbitant price when we first moved back to the United States four years ago. But I also think our generation is smarter when it comes to these kinds of cybercrimes than our parents are.

四年前我們剛搬回美國時，我沒抵擋住誘惑，買下了漫天要價的70年代流行歌曲套裝（包括託尼·奧蘭多和道恩樂團[Tony Orlando and Dawn]、船長和坦尼爾組合[Captain & Tennille]以及海倫·雷迪[Helen Reddy]的12張CD）。直到現在我的家人還拿這事嘲笑我。但是我覺得我們這一代對這種網絡犯罪比父母們更警覺一些。

Though who knows until we are old and it happens to us.

不過，天知道等我們老的時候會發生什麼事。