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AIBU?

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Original poster

Does this sound dodgy to you….

74 replies

Flyingsatsuma · 27/04/2022 22:42

My partners mum lives very close by - 96 but living alone and independent and we give her a lot of support. She is on her GP’s housebound list and is down to have the covid spring booster at her home.

Last Thursday, she got a call from, supposedly, someone at the surgery saying that someone would be coming to give her an injection the next day and that she would need to be in after 10am. She was a bit worked up about it, but my partner went over to see her just before 10am to explain things and give her some reassurance - she had her first booster at home and it was fine. He assumed the nurses or HCAs would arrive any time and so left her to wait for them coming.

Anyway, nobody arrived. MIL was very annoyed since nobody phoned her to say why and she had spent all day expecting them. But we thought, no big deal, they are busy etc.

Something didn’t feel right about it so I phoned the surgery on the Monday and they couldn’t shed any light other than she was on the housebound list and the team would eventually get round to her, but there was no record of anyone phoning her from the surgery, but they could have phoned from a mobile.

I was questioning her about it today and she was able to tell me a bit more detail - that the woman who phoned was very insistent about her being in the house after 10am and kept asking if she wasn’t going out anywhere. In the end, MIL saw the funny side of this since she hasn’t left the house for well over a year hence being on the housebound list! Apparently, the woman also said that it would not be her “usual nurse” but a different lady who was trained to give injections, and that MIL needed to know that she was allowed to let her in. Actually, there are no “usual” nurses at our local surgery as it’s huge - there are dozens of nurses and HCAs and you see whoever. I cannot make any of this add up.

She has been plagued with bank scam phone calls for the past couple of weeks which she is just about coping with, sometimes several times a day. And someone came to the house a few days before the vaccination phone call. She says they let themselves in from the keysafe and wanted to know what covid jabs she had had, even looking through her stuff for the paperwork. They tested her personal alarm and were looking through her care file. We thought it might be a manager from the care agency or social services but we are still none the wiser.

Am I right to be a bit worried that she is on a scammers hit list??

OP posts:
Original poster
Flyingsatsuma · 27/04/2022 23:29

GeorgesMarvelousCalpol · 27/04/2022 23:14

Definitely sounds suspicious, but I can't for the life is me think what they're up to. Why did they want her to stay in? Diverting her phonecalls to you for a while is a good idea.

I can’t see the motivation either which is why I was doubting myself… she doesn’t present as someone wealthy, house and possessions quite shabby now and nothing of value. But she has a lot of cash in the bank and used to keep a file of bank statements in the dining room that could have been on view to anyone. We have taken this off her recently for safekeeping.

OP posts:
TheWickerWoman · 27/04/2022 23:37

I work in a GP practice and had a call pretty much identical to this today. The only difference is the patient is hard of hearing whereby you’ve described that your mil can hear well - I almost thought you were the same person!

I am raising it with our Manager who is back in tomorrow. It is very concerning because one of the people who entered our patient’s house used a GP’s name from our practice (they could easily have found this on our practice website)

Im worrying now if this is becoming a more common scam amongst the elderly and will have this referred to our Safeguarding GP.

Letsrunabath · 27/04/2022 23:44

Please do not trust key safes, my 14 year old son managed within about 5 minutes to crack the one we had forgotten the number for a holiday let. He just goes googled YouTube. If I had a vulnerable family menu I’d rather give careers a spare key.

Booklover3 · 27/04/2022 23:46

This just doesn’t sound right in the slightest. Call police, report to GP and care provider. Change keysafe lock and get a ring doorbell

Original poster
Flyingsatsuma · 27/04/2022 23:51

Letsrunabath · 27/04/2022 23:44

Please do not trust key safes, my 14 year old son managed within about 5 minutes to crack the one we had forgotten the number for a holiday let. He just goes googled YouTube. If I had a vulnerable family menu I’d rather give careers a spare key.

Unfortunately the care agencies insist on a key safe being used as there are any number of different carers coming each week. It is a good one though, wasn’t cheap.

OP posts:
GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 27/04/2022 23:56

My thought would be they wanted her to stay in to let them in the door. Then once they're inside they 'need the loo' and go riffling through jewellery or looking for money. Or they let someone else in / leave the door open for an accomplice while they distract MIL.

Like the people that keep you talking at the front door while someone breaks on the back. Angry

May well not be connected to the mystery person, who may or may not have had the key code.

sobeyondthehills · 28/04/2022 00:03

There is a scam with covid vaccinations, but it was at the start, where they would come in, and you would have to pay x amount of money for the jab for whatever reason, I assume with a card reader, that would then clone the card. They would then pin prick the person so it felt like they had the vaccine,

I had assumed that it had stopped, but it might just be worth making sure she knows that she doesn't have to pay for any booster or for them coming out etc.

As PP though, police as well

PinkButtercups · 28/04/2022 00:08

No that's definitely fucking weird!

In our area some people were targeting elderly people. They'd visit their house and have these covid jabs which weren't covid jabs they were water and charging them hundreds. No

PinkButtercups · 28/04/2022 00:09

Oops didn't mean to put no. Get police invoked.

PinkButtercups · 28/04/2022 00:09

Involved**

Irishfarmer · 28/04/2022 00:14

I'd be concerned. I a door bell camera sounds like a good idea.

rahjama · 28/04/2022 00:30

That's really concerning. I agree you should get some sort of camera/doorbell so these people can be photographed. Also agree that they probably didn't turn up because they saw your partners car. Means they have been watching to know if there are any usual cars there.

Really distressing, hope all is ok OP.

alexdgr8 · 28/04/2022 02:52

if she has a landline, get a call guardian phone.
i have not had a scam/spam call since getting one. calls are intercepted and callers have to announce themselves. you then decide whether you accept the call or not.
why did you partner leave her when the vaccinator was expected ? that bit puzzled me. surely he should have stayed. try to have someone with her when anyone is expected. seems she needs more supervision generally.
she is extremely vulnerable, and good to report issues to police.
by the way have fire brigade visited, to check/install smoke alarms. they are very good on safety advice, and the more legitimate visitors, the better.
it is difficult to know who is who, even for those of us who are meant to be independent.
i was very suspicious of 3 people ringing vulnerable neighbour's bell; they turned out to be police. was a mix up, but said they'd note her as vulnerable at that address.
good luck OP and MIL.

Hollywolly1 · 28/04/2022 04:40

Maybe alert the bank and say no withdrawals

IamtheDevilsAvocado · 28/04/2022 04:40

As others have said... Get a ring doorbell fitted... And pay for the Internet storage... Think its about 2£ a month or so... So this means all the calls /movement s are stored and you can review it and download suspicious ones and forward on to cops.

It records people approaching thr House as well as anyone ringing it... There are different settings.

We did this for an elderly family member who had been targeted.

It seems it has certainly dissuaded SOME dodgy callers, cos unless they're heavily disguised - it's very clear who the person is...

Passing frauds dont want their pictures /audio forwarded to cops...

We recently caught a dippy dodgy window cleaner who was turning up, not cleaning the windows and charging 50£ to elderly relative... And it was all there to see on the vid... 😕

Feckingfeck · 28/04/2022 04:58

Sounds a bit sus

However could be district nurses as mentioned. A friend also had similar with their housebound mother, had a call, waited and nobody came then called GP who new nothing of it and said it's a separate thing 🤷‍♀️

Changing the key safe seems a good idea. Could the code not be on her care and communication record we usually can access these electronically?

A ring door bell could be an idea?

LimeSegment · 28/04/2022 05:12

You rather buried the lede OP, forget the phone call, someone came in to her house and looked through her stuff!

I'm not sure what to suggest but bless you for being so caring and looking out for her. It must be quite frightening to be in her situation.

S0upertrooper · 28/04/2022 05:28

It sounds like your MIL has a care plan. Everyone involved in her care should make an entry in her file to say they've visited and what they've done. Check the file for an entry but it sounds dodgy.

EdaYildiz · 28/04/2022 05:32

OP, you mentioned:

"Unfortunately the care agencies insist on a key safe being used as there are any number of different carers coming each week. It is a good one though, wasn’t cheap".

This itself just sounds so unsafe, are they the same carers on rotation or new ones every time? If the latter, I would say there are way too many people with access to that key safe leaving your MIL very vulnerable.

Not everybody can be trusted.

GlasswareisOverated · 28/04/2022 05:37

In terms of the phone calls, it's possible to get a call monitoring service which won't let anyone connect to the phone number without giving who they are before the call will connect to the person being phoned, I come across these a lot in my line of work (legitimate NHS service) so I would be looking into that.
In terms of people physically turning up a ring doorbell is a good idea and I am pretty sure you can set it up in such a way that the person at the door would be able to be seen on your or your husband's mobile phone.

Mamamia344 · 28/04/2022 05:47

Get caller ID set on her home line, change code on key safe and get a ring doorbell set to your phone. It's not that much bother and it will sort out the annoying scam calls and any unwanted cold callers.

Mrbay · 28/04/2022 05:59

My parents were plagued with scam calls, the telephone company set up an allowed call list - has completely stopped the scammers.

Could you get a WiFi camera installed so that you and your husband can access it via an app just in case the same thing happens again?

I really hate that these low life's prey on the older folks.

pinkstripeycat · 28/04/2022 06:09

The cctv idea PP has suggested is a good one.
I have a relative with a key safe, carers and the occasional nurse. The key safe code seem to get swapped around to all and sundry. If a random nurse turns up no one (surgery, care team) seems to know where they’ve come from and they don’t always write in the care plan.
My relative is wheelchair bound and either can’t hear what the visitor has said or forgets.

Electriq · 28/04/2022 06:12

This may have been suggested already, I have only read your replies OP.
Perhaps invest in a camera so you can see who is entering the property, and with your MIL permission listen back to conversations if needed like this (without being intrusive) you can pick them up pretty cheap and will give you a notification if anyone enters the property.

missingeu · 28/04/2022 06:33

Contract your GP, as I believe they do the covid vaccinations. Community and Districts nurses in my area do not administer covid vaccinations due to capacity.

Your GP will have a record of the intended visit, but I would also ask them to record what has happened. So they have record of the situation.

You could also asked the GP/nurses etc to telephone you before visits if that would help.