“How an international man of mystery scammed my grandma”
This
profile centers around the author’s grandmother, an elderly widow living in Connecticut
whose taxes are done by her son in law, whose speed dial presets were set by
someone other than her and who operated ATMs out of sheer luck. The action of
the piece is centered around a call the grandmother receives, convincing her
that her grandson has been arrested, is being held by crooked cop, and will be
released without any legal action just so long as she wires a certain sum of
money to the man on the other end of the line.
That being said, the profile is not
so thoroughly dismissive of her. She is described as a remarkably creative
woman, and a well read one at that (I even have some trouble with the endless barrage
of information that is the economist).
Still, the woman is mostly described as technologically impaired, and perhaps
as someone that doesn’t so frequently venture forth from her home.
That being said, the most
interesting aspect of this woman is that she was targeted by a scam artist –
this piece probably wouldn’t have been written on the strength of the author’s
grandmother’s impromptu story-telling abilities alone. The journalist positions
himself as an invested party, and perhaps one of some irrational guilt (it was
the belief that he was in danger that the con artists used to cajole the
grandmother out of 3,000 dollars).
“At home, using her landline, Grandma
called my mother, who gave her my number. At no point did she mention what she
needed it for.”
The above
quotation is indicative about what I liked most about the piece in that it
succinctly expresses simultaneously what is crucially hip and unhip about the
grandmother. On one hand, she is calling the author’s mother on a landline as
the scam artists in question instructed her to keep her mobile line open so
that she might receive further instruction (in reality, they’re hoping to
prevent her from contacting anyone who might rouse her as to the reality of her
situation until it’s too late). On the other, while covering her bases, she’s
suspicious enough to acquire the phone number of the author so as to confirm
his supposed arrest all while keeping the mother in the dark – in the event
that her grandson is being held hostage by a crooked police officer, she doesn’t
want him to get in trouble with his mother for it.
That’s a cool
grandmother.
No comments:
Post a Comment