Contractor Swindled $3500 from MIL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What recourse do I have?

Quick background- My MIL has Alzheimer's and somehow found a checkbook we had hidden. He convinced her she needed some 'tree work' while no one else was at home and charged her $3500 for cutting a 10 foot dead branch off a tree. It was 5 minutes of work and the branch could be broken into a tiny pile of kindling in another 5 minutes.

He immediately went to the bank and cashed the check.

What can I do?

Shameful. Is this an independent "handyman" type or someone who actually owns or works for a established company?

I'm guessing it's the former. Do you have his contact information? Maybe you reach out to him, very calmly, and say that you both know the $3500 charge is unreasonable and you would be willing to settle the matter if he refunds your mother $3000, which you believe is more than generous to him. That will be easiest for all parties. But, if he does not do so, you plan to escalate the matter legally.

(Now as to what escalation means, that depends on the specifics.)

But OP has no right to interfere with a transaction she was not involved in. This is a matter between the contractor and OP's mother. If OP is saying her mother is not competent enough to have made this transaction, OP needs to make sure the mother is never ever alone. Not for one single minute. This is the reality of "aging at home."

This is not true. The government and banks have protection groups for exactly these type of transactions. Get involved and report it.

There are government protection groups for able-minded people who enter contracts and then change their mind-allowing them to take money away from the contractor who held up his part of the deal?

Is that what happened here?

No, but that's what the pp ("The government and banks have protection groups for exactly these type of transactions") seems to believe will happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:3,500$ is not worth getting that uoset over. Let it go, OP.

1. That's a lot of money.

2. Many/most elderly are on fixed incomes

3. If a contractor is doing it to one person, he's doing it to 100s.

4. It's illegal. Even if he legitimately cut one branch, his costs should be aligned as such, and it merits further investigation.

5. Banks are trained on catching things like this, and it should be discussed with her bank.

It's illegal for a contractor to set their own prices?

Banks are trained to catch what? People writing checks?

I'm the pp whose dad withdrew $31k in cash for a scam. The banks are not required to do ANYTHING. My brother discussed it with the police.

NP. Banks are absolutely supposed to try to detect elderly financial scams.
https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/advisory/2022-06-15/FinCEN%20Advisory%20Elder%20Financial%20Exploitation%20FINAL%20508.pdf

How would a check for $3500 indicate a scam?
Like I said, my dad walked into a bank and withdrew $31k in CASH and the bank was fine and dandy with it.

[Anonymous]

PP with the dad who was scammed out of $31k here.

To give more information:
My dad was told by the scammer that he was an agent with the social security administration. He told my dad his social security number had been stolen and was being used to open accounts for numerous drug and child sex abuse trafficking rings. He told my dad they would need to get a new SS number for him and it would cost $31k (we don't know how they arrived at the number. It was just about $1k less than what my dad had readily available in his bank account.) He told my dad that because these drug and child sex abuse cases were currently being investigated by the FBI and numerous other agencies, that everything had to be kept confidential and my dad could not tell ANYONE about this.

My dad went into the bank and asked to withdraw $31k.
The teller DID ask him what it as for (as they are trained to for elderly making large withdrawals) and my dad said that he was "buying some property." Apparently that was what the scammer had told him to say if anyone asked.
This was in Orange county, CA--no way can you buy "property" anywhere near there for $31k.
Even if you could-wouldn't you want a cashiers check or other form of trackable payment for buying property? But apparently my dad passed the test by saying that.

So if the contractor in OP's case shows up at the bank to cash a $3500 check, and the teller asks what it was for-the contractor could just say it was for arbor work on the homeowners property. Without knowing the scope of the work, the teller would know that $3500 for arbor work is not an unusual amount. There would be no reason for the teller to think this was any type of scam or unusual transaction.