By Arnold Malone
Pioneer Columnist

Avoiding Fraud

Part 1 of 2

Our house phone rang. Susan answered and I heard her speaking in a very concerned manner.

Finding it difficult to recognize the caller’s voice, she asked, “Andy? Is that you?” He responded, “Of course it’s me, I was in a car crash, my nose is broken, and I’m in jail.” He was sobbing and repeatedly saying, “Mum I am so sorry, I am so ashamed.” Andy (not his real name) is our son who lives and works in Vancouver.

Then, still crying, he said, “A police officer is taking me away now. A lawyer wants to speak with both of you.” A very calming, professional voice came on the phone. He informed us that our son had been at a party and a friend who had had too much to drink asked Andy to drive him home. The lawyer said, “The police had your son blow a breathalyzer. It registered .09, one unit over the .08 limit. I am quite certain I can get him off the driving while impaired charge. At the hospital, they should have taken breath and blood samples and they did neither. Unfortunately, a six-year-old boy in the other car suffered a broken femur. A court date is set for August 19th.”

Susan and I were stunned by this news. The lawyer indicated our son could be released with $5,000.00 bail, saying “I know that is steep, but he has been charged with driving while impaired and causing bodily harm. He wants to know if you will pay his bail.” Andy was working at a new job with a busy schedule. To be off work for several weeks was unthinkable. Even more unthinkable was his being in jail. Yes, of course we would post bail.

It had to be cash and paid by 4:00 pm or he would be overnight in jail. The money had to be deposited into either a Bank of Nova Scotia or TD Bank. With neither bank in Invermere, we said we would withdraw the cash from our bank and drive to Cranbrook to deposit it to the requested account. 

Our conversation ended with the lawyer providing his personal phone number for us to call at any time, along with a strict order not to speak about this with anyone else or it would jeopardize Andy’s bail hearing. He also told us to phone him immediately after depositing the money.

We worried non-stop on route to Cranbrook. An innocent boy with a broken leg, our son with a broken nose, a possible jail sentence, job loss, a damaged reputation, unknown costs, on and on and on. At Cranbrook, Susan said, “Something isn’t right with all of this. We have to try calling Andy.” Even though we were warned not to, we agreed to phone him. “Hello,” he answered in his normal warm voice. “Where are you?” we asked. “I’m at work, where else would I be?  And I have a meeting starting in just moments.” Upon hearing him calmly say, “Hello,” we realized we were tar gets of an attempted scam and just minutes away from sending money to a thief.

With indescribable relief we picked up coffee and drove home. How could we not have known from the beginning that this was a scam? It was the initial sobbing voice claiming to be our son that threw us off. When someone you cherish is in such unimaginable trouble, emotions take over and rational thinking disappears. We have learned so much from this experience.