Man’s family believes scammers pressured him into suicide

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    ST. CHARLES, Michigan (WJRT) — The family of a Saginaw County man who took his own life believes he may have been pressured to do so by scammers.

The 71-year-old man, who lived near St. Charles, appears to have been swindled out of several thousand dollars. He took his own life recently, but his family wants everyone to know how this happened.

The family did not know the General Motors retiree was being scammed until he killed himself. The family believes scammers got their hooks into the 71-year-old around the holidays and didn’t let go until he made a tragic decision.

“I never thought to worry about his finances,” the man’s son said.

The family, who did not want to be identified, is putting together pieces of a puzzle and trying to explain why he ended his life. His son believes the answer lies in receipts and cashier’s checks found in his father’s home.

“Stores such as Dollar General, Dollar Tree to buy buy gift certificates and the activation types, all for $500,” the man’s son said.

He believes his dad was the victim of scammers.

In the man’s own writing, one note says, “PCH mega million sweep stake company.” A letter indicated the man won a big prize, but he needed to send $10,000 to claim it — then an additional $5,500.

“I really feel they were threatening him, because of things he was doing the last couple of days were so out of character,” the man’s son said.

What was he doing those last couple of days, those last couple of weeks? The man went to his father’s home shortly after he died, and he got a clue from his dad’s flip phone.

“It started to ring, and when I answered it I was thinking it might be one of his friends or someone that knew him,” the son said.

It wasn’t. He believes it was a scammer.

“Throughout the night it was more than 70 times that phone rang,” the son said. “These people were relentless.”

His cousin answered one of those rings.

“The scammer asked did he harm himself, which is a weird question to be asking someone when they pick up the phone. So they had an idea that something was going to happen to him,” the son said.

They are trying to calculate how much money his dad lost to scammers. The son said he had dinner with his father a couple of weeks ago and didn’t notice anything odd then.

But looking back, he realized there were warning signs. He wants everyone to check on vulnerable family members and friends.

“Check on your people,” the son said. “I wish these stores where he bought the gift cards would have asked, ‘Are you buying these things to pay something?’ Because if that’s the case, its a fraud.”

The son said his father showed no signs of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

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