My mom keeps getting calls for an old dead man - after trying for months, some things just don’t make much sense.

My mom has an older phone with no caller ID. It’s not uncommon for her to get a call from an unknown number claiming to be from the bank or a collection agency. They usually want a payment on a bill, or a purchase with a large amount. If they hear her southern accent, they quickly hang up in disgust. She’s had a lot of these calls lately.<br><br>I’ve answered when I’m at her house, and I also get frustrated listening to these scammers, but in the past week, the calls have taken a weird turn. We recently started getting calls from an old man, she thought in his 70s or 80s. He usually asks for her husband, or “buddy’s sister.”<br><br>She’ll usually tell the old man she’s not his sister, and this usually ends the call, but some old men have the guts to ask further. The first man to call, she said she had a brother named that, but she wasn’t that sister. This only confused the man, but he apologized and hung up.<br><br>She got a second call, and this old man was entirely confused. He kept asking for a different sister, and said he’d been trying for months. She didn’t want to waste this old man’s time, so she let him keep talking. It was so hard to listen to. <br><br>She asked if he’d been confused over the number, and if there was a number he was **supposed to call**, but the old man said that this was the number he’d been given. She asked who gave him the number, but he said he couldn’t remember. She asked him if he’s tried writing down the number, but he said his memory was bad and he couldn’t remember anything. <br><br>The old man asked, “who is this?” and my mom said her name was Betsy. He said he didn’t know a Betsy. She asked if he had a brother with the name of my late uncle, and he said yes. He said it was the name of his brother and a cousin of his, but this made him more confused. He said he wanted to speak with my uncle’s sister. She repeated the name Betsy, and the old man said he didn’t know a Betsy sister. He asked if Betsy had a sister, but my mom said none. The old man was confused. <br><br>The old man said he’s been calling for months, and was told the number would connect him with his niece or sister, but he couldn’t connect with anyone. He was very confused. The conversation was sad and frustrating, but it didn’t seem malicious. The old man hung up, and my mom said he seemed like he was suffering from dementia.<br><br>I tried looking online for some possible reason, but found nothing. She hasn’t gotten any other calls from the old man, but she got another call from an old woman. The woman seemed very confused and asked who my mom was. The woman called her name again, and my mom repeated her name Betsy. The woman said she didn’t know a Betsy. She asked my mom if she knew her son, but my mom was confused. She said she didn’t know her son. The woman kept asking if she’d met her son.<br><br>I'm not really sure what’s happening, or who these people are. I usually don’t care about scammers, but this situation seems different and confusing. I’d like to know if anyone else has experienced something like this. Any ideas or theories?<br><br>Edit: as much as I’d like to help the old man, I don’t think it’s my responsibility to further help this old man. <br><br>Edit #2: the calls are random and from different numbers. The calls are very random, and never from the same number. I don’t know how to find the number. My mom would never remember it, and I’m not always there.<br><br>Edit #3: I don’t know if this is relevant, but my mom has the same phone number she’s had for the past few decades.<br><br>Edit #4: I managed to answer the phone when my mom was at work. The caller used my name instead of mom’s. I played along, and the caller sounded like a confused old woman. She asked me to get her son. I said I was the son. This confused her, but she asked my son to fill out an application for some credit card or something. She was a very confused old woman. She kept calling me the name of my uncle who recently passed. <br><br>Edit #5: it’s now a few hours later, and I’m still at my mom’s. I got a call from an old man who identified himself as a relative. I recognized him as the uncle on mom’s side who made the calls from earlier. I checked the number, and this was the number of my mom’s recently deceased brother. I asked the uncle if he was still using the dead man’s phone. The uncle said he was. I explained the entire situation with the calls, and the uncle immediately got quiet. He eventually said he’d get in touch with his brother’s wife, but I said it wasn’t her fault. He then said he’d hang up and contact the phone company, and I could hear the wife in the background screaming at the uncle. He hung up quickly, and I haven’t gotten any more calls.<br><br>So I guess the case is closed.