Killam senior plagued by fraudulent phone calls

Joanne Forster of the Killam area, says she got a phone call from Reader’s Digest recently, where a Mr. Frank Meyers told her she’d won $110,000 and a new car!

All she had to do to collect her prize was to send him $275.

“I told him I’ll give you $275 as you’re dropping the keys to my new car in my hand,” she said, then hung up.

“I knew it was a scam when he asked me for money.”

Forster says the same number, 1-876-389-3809, has continued to call her, sometimes twice per day.

“He sounded so convincing, I actually did double check with Reader’s Digest afterwards, who said I wasn’t on any winners list, and that they didn’t have any active contests going at the moment.”

The most important thing to remember, she knows, is that you never would be asked to pay to receive your prize if you won a prize in Canada. Ever. That’s just not the way a legitimate contest or lottery works.

Forster, unfortunately, has been targetted by a phone fraudster before. Previously she was tricked into giving her credit card information over the phone.

“After the call, I felt uneasy about it, so I called my bank right away.”

Forster says a quick-thinking bank employee put a hold on her card immediately.

“And while we were on the phone, an attempt to take money came in,” she says, “that fast!”

“I’m not ashamed that I was fooled,” she says now.

“Sure, I felt stupid, and I was lucky that I had called my bank right away.

“I made a mistake trusting someone.

“It scares me for other older people,” she says.

“Everyone wants to trust people.”

If you have been the victim of a scam, or think you have, local RCMP should be notified.

The best defense you can mount against phone fraud is knowledge. The more people who know about the types of scams that are being tried, the less likely they are to succeed.

Forster says that’s one of the reasons why she wanted to tell her story, so others can learn.

Leslie Cholowsky
Editor