A senior in Nanaimo has been fleeced out of money just before Christmas after falling for a common phone scam.
Mary-Anne Travis says she wants to warn the public to be wary after she was bilked out of more than $1,000 by scam artists last week.
Travis said she picked up her phone Dec. 17 and heard what she thought was the voice of her daughter in an upset state.
“I don’t know how they did it, but it sounded like my daughter’s voice," she said.
The person posing as Travis’s daughter said she had been in a car crash and a boy in the other car had suffered serious injuries. Another person, posing as a police officer, came on the line to say bail for the “daughter” would be a certain amount and Travis was instructed to purchase a prepaid credit card.
“Then I got another call from my ‘daughter’ telling me the little boy had died and then she just went silent and didn’t say anything else,” Travis said. “It was her crying. I don’t know if they can get a voice print somewhere or what, but it was very good. It was excellent.”
A second call from the ‘officer’ informed Travis that because the boy died, the bail amount had increased.
“Long story short, I ended up at the store getting pre-paid Visa cards again and they cleaned me out of every cent,” she said, adding that while she didn't wish to reveal exactly how much money she lost, it was between $1,000 and $10,000.
Travis said she gets scam calls regularly and always just hangs up the phone and doesn’t know why she fell for this one, but it could be because she has recently gone through a personal crisis and is “in an emotional state right now.”
She said she now wants to help keep other people from being victimized.
“If I could prevent one person from being scammed like this I’m happy … I’m having a hard time keeping it straight because I’m crying a lot. I’m a senior and I’m sure somehow they knew that … They caught me at a low time and then I couldn’t get hold of my daughter on the phone to try to see, so I thought I guess this is really happening. They were tugging at my maternal heart strings, is what they did.”
Reserve Const. Gary O’Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesperson, said people need to always be suspicious.
“Anytime anyone calls you asking for money, it’s a scam,” he said. “Don’t interact with the caller and hang up the phone.”
O’Brien said police, banking institutions and the Canadian Revenue Agency will never call people and ask for money over the phone and he advised that anyone who receives a call, such as the 'grandson scam,' to hang up and report it to the Nanaimo RCMP at 250-754-2345.
To learn more about recent scams and fraud and how to avoid becoming a victim, visit the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at http://antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca.
Travis said she is angry she fell for the ruse, but will be all right.
“I have a roof over my head and food in my cupboard, so I’ll be fine,” she said.
