Canada: Safeway Grocery Store employee saves a grandmother from distress scam
This is another win against phone scammers targeting elderly folks, impersonating as their grandson and asking for money to “bail” them out of trouble. A week ago, a Walmart employee also did the same thing to help prevent a scam from succeeding.
A good point was noted by the real grandson, that these scammers are able to track and dig out information about the relationship. One possible area where scammers could have dug the information is Facebook. There has been quite a number of scams lately, about facebook being hacked and used to upload sickening videos.
Back to this case… Buy from Safeway! Buy from Safeway!
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The scam works like this: The ‘grandchild’ says he’s in jail and needs bail money immediately. In at least one instance a second person, pretending to be a lawyer by the name of Michael Jameson, is put on the phone, confirms the need and tells them how to wire money.
An 88-year-old Comox woman was their latest target.
The woman, who asked not to be named, was home alone on Monday night when she got a call.
“I asked who’s this?” she said. “He said it’s David, I’m in Toronto Gram.” The man then went onto explain that he was the best man at a friend’s wedding and got caught drinking and driving in a police roadblock after the wedding. He had been put in jail and needed bail.
“It sounded just like David,” said the woman, who is usually very skeptical. “He went on and on. Then he put on the lawyer who talked and talked. He sounded quite concerned and I was really taken in.” The detailed claim included an urgent plea to act soon so that his job wouldn’t be affected.
Eventually, she vowed to help her grandson anyway she could and was told to pay $4687.33 the next morning.
The ‘lawyer’ even got his secretary to look up the nearest Western Union address in Courtenay where she could wire the money.
When she got there, Safeway representative Lisa Tomko refused to process the claim immediately.
Tomko called her own lawyer and asked if he could research Michael Jameson’s name in Toronto. She also called Western Union’s head office in a bid to convince the senior it was a scam.
“I could tell she was getting a little irritated with me because she needed to get the money to her grandson.” Eventually she persuaded the senior to go home, get the lawyer’s number and call family members to see if her grandson was in fact in Toronto.
To her, warning bells included the large amount of money being wired, the fact the lawyer didn’t ask for the money deposited to a trust fund and that he didn’t leave a return phone number.
When the senior got home – the ‘lawyer’ called again asking for the transfer number.
She told him the case was being investigated and the caller hung up immediately.
Meanwhile, the entire transaction raises privacy issues for her real grandson David Barner, who lived in Toronto until about two years ago.
“The stranger knew such details of our lives,” said Barner. “It makes me think twice about how much information I put on the Internet. I do use social networking and my privacy settings for Facebook are what they should be but there’s still a lot of information out there.” The family is extremely grateful to Tomko for preventing a significant loss, said Barner.
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My parents just got a call from a woman impersonator saying she was me and I had a wreck in Canada and I needed $3000 to fix the car so I could get back home. Thank goodness my mom thought to call my cell phone and ask if I was okay. My dad is on alert now so when they call back with the info he can get them.
How did they get my parents home phone? It’s way too scary to know that these people are out there doing this!!!
The “story” I fell for was my “supposed” grandson was at Toronto airport awaiting his flight to London, England. He had discovered an error on his travellers cheques, making them useless, and if I would wire $2,500 to London by Western Union, he would pay me back upon his return in one week. He sounded very panicky, so I panicked. He then asked me to be sure to spell his first and last names correctly…at which point I had to admit I didnt know which of my 5 grandsons he was! (They all sound so alike!) He then laughed and said “You dont recognise my voice?” Feeling sheepish I said “Its either Jake, Matt or David” The caller said “It’s Jake’! He then asked me to spell out his last name for him to be sure I would get it right when I wired the money……so I did…..I actually GAVE him all the info he needed!……It gets worse…………I wired the money and when he called back to get the confirmation number neccessary to pick up the money in London…he said “OOOPS……I should have specified pounds not dollars………..could you send another $2,500?” Without a second thought I got back in my car, went back to the bank…and wired another $2,500…!!!!!!!! I still cant believe my stupidity! It was 36 hrs later before I next chatted with Jake’s mom…..I said “Did you know Jake went to London”? She said “Jake doesnt have a passport “…………!!!!!!!!!!!!! Long story short….It wasnt Jake who called, I’m out $5,000 and the police and Western Union tell me I’m just one of thousands taken in by these incredibly professional scammers. I’m so ashamed I must send this info anonimously….but please………..spread the word…even if you find this amusing…….it could happen to you!