Phone scammer tricks 81-year old man into shooting Uber driver the scammer sent to his house.

Old man gets scam calls from someone pretending to be an officer from the local court who makes threats and demands money, Scammer sends an Uber to pick up the money from the old man. Uber lady shows up and the old man thinks she's the scammer there to rob him so he shoots her in his driveway.

Old man indicted for murder.

Story is straight out of an episode of Black Mirror.

It's not really clear to me why he shot her. Even IF everything he thought about her was true, she had no weapon, made no threats, was not trying to enter his home and was walking away (then later lying on the ground) when he shot her. In no scenario would that have been a justified shooting.

Sounds like the scammer got the old dude all riled up and he went off the rails.

The victim, Loletha Hall, 61, was an Uber driver who had been told to retrieve a package from the old man's home.

A horrific scenario.

The scammer needs to be charged for the murder as well

Man, terrible story to start the day. The scammer ought to be charged as well.

It sure would be nice if the government did something about scam/robo calls.

They'll likely never find the scammer. Probably used a burner phone and the Uber account was probably made with a gift card visa.

Humans are not prepared for this modern world.

Interesting. Acquit. DA should be brought up on charges for bringing the case.

Where is the photo from?

Uber drivers dash cam

CanyonAg77 said:

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Where is the photo from?

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Story says dash cam of the Uber driver (lady).

Terrible story.

Many old people are easily confused, but I don't see what she could have said that would escalate it to actually shooting her.

Terrible situation all around.

Uber driver's dashboard cam.

From what I've read, Uber driver was walking away when he shot her. I don't know how you would not charge him. Uber driver had no part in the scam, did not have a weapon, and was not threatening him in any manner.

CheeseSndwch said:

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It sure would be nice if the government did something about scam/robo calls.

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I hate it when people take advantage of the elderly.

Thinking straight, I would like to believe any of us would have called the police first. When I was younger, I'd have even considered calling the FBI, but of course would never, ever do that today.

Wow, that scammer must be really pleased with himself. Ended the lives of both his targets and got off free as a bird.

maxag42 said:

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The scammer needs to be charged for the murder as well

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Probably not even in the US.

nortex97 said:

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Thinking straight, I would like to believe any of us would have called the police first. When I was younger, I'd have even considered calling the FBI, but of course would never, ever do that today.

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Exactly what the man should have done and then locked himself indoors with the gun and waited. Old man's actions are 100% murder. The scammer should be charged with murder as well if they can find them

more details and some video here, not of the shooting, but initial confrontation

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ohio-man-81-charged-fatal-shooting-uber-driver-mistakenly-thought-was-rcna147827

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"Mr. Brock received some scam call by a person purporting to be someone from our courts who informed him a family member was incarcerated and that he had a bond of a significant amount of money," Shultz said. "The calls turned from 'I'm an officer in the court' to 'We have this subject hostage, this is a ransom demand.'"

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When Hall arrived at the home and approached the front door, Brock confronted her with a gun and asked her who she was working for, Shultz said. He took her cellphone and prevented her from getting in her vehicle and driving away.

"When she tried to get away, he shot her once, then there was more exchange between them," Shultz said. "Mr. Brock was at some point injured to his head, and he shot Ms. Hall a second time. There was more conversation, and then he shot her a third time. Only after he shot her a third time did he then make contact with authorities to report the incident."

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maxag42 said:

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The scammer needs to be charged for the murder as well

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No he needs to be drawn and quartered

CheeseSndwch said:

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It sure would be nice if the government did something about scam/robo calls.

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Easier said than done.

Part of it is the use of burner phones. You can just buy a phone and sim at Walmart with cash and the calls from it can't be traced back to you. The best that providers could do would be to block the phone, but they'd need some kind of evidence to support complaints to avoid cutting off people based on false allegations.

It's the same thing with VOIP calls that can spoof a number from anywhere in the world. That's an infrastructure and authentication problem for providers. It's even harder now because now the process can be completely automated and people can be impersonated by AI.

Another part is that it's a private industry issue. What exactly is government going to do to stop scammers it can't even ID? What about the use of networks to and authenticating and validating traffic? Bureaucrats will inevitably require industry to invest and do things that may not even be possible.

Old man is guilty. He should have called the cops about the scam calls instead of trying to covering this lady who never presented a threat to him. He just decided to go Dirty Harry on her, and everything he did leading up to this was idiotic. It sucks for him, but he made a lot of really stupid decisions and killed an Innocent woman.

Scammer needs to be tracked down and charged if possible. Good luck though. They know how to maintain anonymity from afar, and they're not stupid. Had the guy called the cops and maybe had them involved, they might have followed the drop and actually caught the guy. Now that's not an option and their best bet is getting video of the guy buying the burner phone, if it exists.

Quote:

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Shultz said. "The calls turned from 'I'm an officer in the court' to 'We have this subject hostage, this is a ransom demand.'"

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This is where my curiosity is piqued. Did he think the woman was part of a scam or did he think she was participating in a hostage situation?

Unless he has dementia or something, he will spend the remainder of his life in prison, I imagine.

I feel bad for the Uber driver.

This happened to my father 5 years ago (without the shooting). Fortunately I called him that day and heard about it and stopped it before he handed over the cash. Called the police. They aren't interested in this kind of crime and that was before police department defunding.

BCG Disciple said:

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Interesting. Acquit. DA should be brought up on charges for bringing the case.

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Absolutely not. The situation is horrible but you can't just shoot a defenseless person like that. I wish she had stayed in place until the police arrived but she had to have been scared out of her mind to have a gun pulled on her.

maxag42 said:

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The scammer needs to be charged for the murder as well

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Agreed.

Such a tragic story.

Coincidence that driver was a black person and old man white? I don't think so. Somebody trying to start another riot before the election, me thinks.

I'd probably acquit him if I were on his jury. The only just resolution is to find and charge the scammer with her murder.

Ciboag96 said:

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Coincidence that driver was a black person and old man white? I don't think so. Somebody trying to start another riot before the election, me thinks.

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Is there a way to control which Uber driver gets the job?

The Kraken said:

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Ciboag96 said:

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Coincidence that driver was a black person and old man white? I don't think so. Somebody trying to start another riot before the election, me thinks.

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Is there a way to control which Uber driver get the job?

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don't be so naive. the lady was in on this. she sacrificed herself for moloch

Lesson number eleventy billion on why you NEVER answer a phone call that you don't recognize or know the number/name on the ID. If they really want you, they will leave a message. It's much easier to respond to a situation when you are not under immediate pressure.

Boomers are like flightless birds evolved on some island, totally defenseless against the subcontinent's scams and fraud. Home phones ring nonstop with spam calls, 5 calls a day attempting to trick money out of meemaw. FBI, federal LE apparatus, the State Dept, nothing is done.

— Local Historian (@LMFHistorian) April 17, 2024

Why do we have an FBI, a military, or even the fucking SEC if they're unwilling to even DISCUSS this problem, let alone act on it. Of all the symptoms of GAE piss-world this is the most enraging to me, a definitive choice to sacrifice the old on the altar of "developing nations"

— Local Historian (@LMFHistorian) April 17, 2024

This will start happening more and more to the elderly as they fall behind AI spoofing of voices and even video. It will become trivial to spoof one of their grandkids or kids with video and audio soon enough. "I need money grandpa, please help me!"

What did the scammer expect to get out of it? The actual money? How does anyone know she wasn't part of the scam?

Bob Lee said:

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I'd probably acquit him if I were on his jury. The only just resolution is to find and charge the scammer with her murder.

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not sure what benefit of the doubt you'd give him. even if he reasonably thought the uber driver was a scammer, deadly force is not justified at all.

this is murder.

barbacoa taco said:

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Bob Lee said:

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I'd probably acquit him if I were on his jury. The only just resolution is to find and charge the scammer with her murder.

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not sure what benefit of the doubt you'd give him. even if he reasonably thought the uber driver was a scammer, deadly force is not justified at all.

this is murder.

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I disagree. If she were actually involved in tormenting him and trying to steal his money, the shooting would have been morally justifiable.

I guess I would ask this, what do you think is a just punishment for someone who torments old men and shows up at their door to steal their money? If it had been that guy, and he shot HIM, I would say he got his just deserts.

Bob Lee said:

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barbacoa taco said:

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Bob Lee said:

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I'd probably acquit him if I were on his jury. The only just resolution is to find and charge the scammer with her murder.

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not sure what benefit of the doubt you'd give him. even if he reasonably thought the uber driver was a scammer, deadly force is not justified at all.

this is murder.

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I disagree. If she were actually involved in tormenting him and trying to steal his money, the shooting would have been morally justifiable.

I guess I would ask this, what do you think is a just punishment for someone who torments old men and shows up at their door to steal their money? If it had been that guy, and he shot HIM, I would say he got his just deserts.

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and she wasn't. she didn't do any of that.