BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Breast Cancer Beware of Con Artists!

I realize that this is hard to fathom but there are people out there masquerading as cancer patients in order to acquire prescription pain killers.
They attend support groups, ingratiate themselves with patients and/or survivors and turn on the grift.
A familiar sob story is their insurance won't pay for their prescription meds and can they buy some from you? Most people just give them the meds--free of charge.
Be careful! Some of these people are slick. One woman in my support group has even shaved her head to make her story more credible.
Another woman got taken for about $3,000 when a phony patient snatched her debit card.

Unbelieveable!

Oh but it's sadly true. They especially target older folks who are by themselves a lot. Older people are less apt to take their meds as they should and some just want company are are willing to swap out some meds for the company

Just found out that the girl who stole the 3 large was indicted for felony theft and fraud. She's also been banned from the cancer center.
Ahhhh--sweet justice!

Addiction is hell. It seems to me that they just can't think straight. I know what they do is frustrating (cheating, lying, stealing, etc) but many people get addicted when only trying to control their chronic pain and when they try to get off - they can't. Mind is a tricky thing and if we add physical addiction to it - it's a nasty combo.