(HURON COUNTY, ON) – Another Huron County senior has fallen victim to a scam commonly known as the Grandparent/Emergency scam. An 80 year old male from Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh answered a phone call on March 14, 2014 that he wished he never answered. A scammer claiming to be the senior’s grandson was on the line and he was making an urgent plea for help. The scammer led the victim into believing his grandson had been involved in a car accident in the Dominican Republic. The scammer requested $4500 be wired to him in two installments. The victim completed the first transaction and sent the scammer nearly $2,000. He was attempting to make the second transaction when he was alerted to the possibility of this being a scam by a Canada Post employee. The victim was able to contact family members that verified his grandson hadn’t travelled to the Dominican Republic and was not involved in a motor vehicle collision.
Since 2009, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre has received 17,132 emergency scam complaints accounting for more than 24 million dollars in reported losses. The average loss per victim was $3,743.