<prompt> Human: DISCLAIMER: I am aware that there are many red flags in this scenario, with that said my mother knows next to nothing about con artists or scams. Im leaving a lot of details out, I just want to get this out as quickly as possible. Ill be happy to answer any clarifying questions. Ultimately I want help and how to move forward and rectify the situation. An attorney handles my mothers finances, and she had missed several calls from her attorneys number, due to her being at work. After a few calls she started to get worried and was convinced that it must have been important so she answered. A man was on the phone, stating that her attorney was in a meeting so he was reaching out to her because it was an urgent matter. The office had allegedly received a fax from the IRS stating that she had a warrant, and they would escort her out of her work place if unless she paid a 4000 dollars. This freaked her the fuck out. The man on the phone started threatening her saying she would have to spend time in jail waiting for her court date, while a warrants out she wont be able to leave the country were planning a trip to Europe, and some other bull shit that he used to create a greater sense of fear and urgency. After successfully getting her to cooperate with him, she agreed to pay however she could only afford 1900, the man agreed and had her attempt to process a payment. Her bank declined the transaction, possibly because the bank picked up that it was a fraudulent charge. So he had her withdraw the money in cash, and go to a specific store to buy prepaid cards for the amount of 1900. She agreed and did it. The store apparently had a policy where they capped the purchases to just 3 cards, so in total she had 1500 in prepaid cards. She paid the man with the cards and the call was over.Feeling relieved she started to think a little more clearly. She called her attorneys number, and her attorney picked up. She asked if she could pick up the fax that was sent to the office stating that she had a warrant out. Her attorney had no idea what she was talking about. The con artist possibly was able to call using her caller ID? Maybe her attorney was in on it? I have no idea. But at this moment all the red flags were raised for my mother. She called the company that she purchased the prepaid cards from and opened up a fraud investigation. It didnt sound like it was looking good from her conversation, they said that they would try to track the transaction.Moving forward, what can we do to get her money back? I know the situation is especially tricky since the pre-paid cards were purchased with cash, and not on a card where she could dispute the charges. EDIT: Thank all of you for the advice. The general consensus is that she is not getting our money back. Luckily she is a care free woman and was more worried about the warrant that was allegedly out for her, not the lost money. An investigation is open, apparently with it being tax season there has been a spree of scams similar to this. Thank you guys for your insight.  <response>: I used to be a supervisor in a big name pharmacy. We had people come in all the time attempting to purchase prepaid cards for these types of scams. It was to the point that we were all trained to be on the lookout for certain behaviors, like currently being on the phone with someone, looking worried, etc. We managed to talk people out of it sometimes, but other times they insisted on the purchase and we had to make a decision to refuse the sale or go ahead based on nothing but a hunch. OP, my point is this: I saw a lot of different types of people get run by these scams. Tell your mother that. Shes one of countless victims of these crooks, she made a mistake that plenty of people have made, and she shouldnt be overly ashamed. Youre never too old for a harsh lesson like this, and youre not always going to have the right response to a situation. It happens. Best of luck. 