Bloomfield woman narrowly escapes scam

Corey Noles photo Marilyn Gill and her eight-year-old Scottish Terrier, Pepper, in their living room on Viola St. Gill has much to be thankful for this year following the halting of a scam against her that could have cost her over $2,000.

At 10 a.m., Gill's telephone rang. When she answered the phone, the caller said "Grandma, do you know who this is?"

She said, "Yes, this is Ryan David."

The caller, pretending to be her grandson, then went on to tell her that he was in jail in Toronto, Canada. He said there had been a wreck the night before and that he was charged with driving under the influence.

By this point, Gill was terribly upset and worried for her grandson.

He then told her that in order to get out of jail, he needed her to wire him $2,300 and said that he was promised 90 percent of it would be returned in 30 days.

Gill, who wasn't aware of her grandson being in Canada, then said she wanted to call his dad. The caller then asked her not to call his dad because he wanted to tell him himself when he returned home.

She told him she would send the money and got the information needed. He told her the money had to be sent to a Jeanne Hirsch.

"I was a little concerned that it wasn't being wired to the jail, but he insisted that was how they told him it had to be done to get the money to him," Gill said.

She then left home and traveled to the local US Bank branch in Bloomfield where she wired the money.

Gill said the workers at the bank kept asking her if she was sure she wanted to send the money because it sounded suspicious.

They encouraged to her to try and contact her grandson when she returned home, just to make sure he was where the caller said.

Acting on the bank's advice, she called her other grandson to find out where Ryan David was, and he said he was standing right beside him.

As it turns out, he was actually in Kelso and had not been to Canada at all.

Once she realized she had been scammed, Gill rushed back to the bank where they immediately contacted Western Union and were luckily able to retrieve her money.

The scammer was supposed to call again at 1 p.m. to get the specifics on the transfer, so Gill then went to the Sheriff's Department and the Bloomfield Police Department to report the incident.

While she was not home at 1 p.m., several hours later she received the call again and asked the scammer, "What's your nickname?" He said, "Grandma, you know my nickname."

She then proceeded to tell him that she was on to his game and that the law had been contacted, including the Ontario Police Department.

The Ontario Police told Gill that they had received numerous calls over this very scam and that they have been actively working for some time to catch the scammers.

Gill attributes getting her money back to the fast-work and concern of both US Bank and Western Union.

"They were all super to me," she said.

Following some research on the subject, it was discovered that the Better Business Bureau (BBB) is very familiar with this scam that has happened to thousands of people.

To protect themselves from this scam, and other scams that may use a distressed loved-one tactic, BBB is advising seniors to confirm the status of the individual by calling them directly or verifying the story with other family members before taking any further action.

BBB also advises that any request to wire money through Western Union or MoneyGram should be seen as a "red flag" and an immediate tip-off that the call may be part of a scam. Funds sent via wire transfer are hard to track once received by scammers and are usually not recoverable by law enforcement or banking officials.

For anyone victimized by this type of distressed loved-one call, BBB recommends reporting the incident immediately to local police departments and state Attorneys General offices. If there is a request to wire money to Canada, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Call Centre has established the PhoneBusters hotline and Web site to report such fraud. Reports can be filed easily online through the PhoneBusters site at: www.phonebusters.com, or by phone, toll free at, 1-888-495-8501.