Cochrane senior issues warning after scammers robbed him of nearly $10K

An 86-year-old Cochrane man is warning others about the dangers of telephone fraud after he was scammed out of nearly $10,000 in a scheme that police call a "grandparent scam."

Stu Bradley recently lost his beloved wife Dixie, who passed away in August, and says scammers utilized information in her obituary – like names of her grandkids – to earn his trust and identify close family members. 

It all began when he received a phone call at 12:40 p.m. on Wednesday from someone claiming to be a Const. Jeffrey from Olds RCMP.

The scammer told Bradley that his granddaughter had been in an accident and said "I’m going to let you speak to her."

Bradley says a female voice then came on the phone saying she had crashed her neighbour’s vehicle, breaking her nose in the process.

Bradley says the woman said "Grandpa, I have a broken nose, that’s why my voice doesn’t sound the same."

The woman claiming to be his granddaughter then went on to claim that EMS had been called to investigate the crash and RCMP found 10 pounds of marijuana in the trunk of the car. 

The woman said she was escorted to the Olds RCMP detachment where she was being held on a drug-related charge.

"It’s jarring because of course they say it’s my granddaughter and they managed to catch me with that concept," said Bradley.

"Now I thought obviously she’s facing a very dangerous drug charge and at this stage in the game she’s incarcerated so they asked if I was the man to contact and I said 'yes, I am.'" 

Bradley says the faux constable came back on the phone and said Bradley’s granddaughter had been arraigned before a judge and assessed a $9,000 bail agreement.

He told Bradley to withdraw $9,000 in cash from his bank account, but warned him not to tell the bank or any family members what he was doing because the charge was "so serious."

Worried for his granddaughter, Bradley went to his bank and told a teller that he knew that he had found an antique he wanted to purchase and needed $9,000 to complete the transaction.

He returned home and called "Const. Jeffrey" to let him know that he had a $9,000 bank draft.

"Immediately, I was informed by a very stern constable who said 'Mr. Bradley, you misunderstood and we need you to go back to the bank and get cash," said Bradley.

"I was told to put the money in a brown envelope, the address of the courthouse in Calgary, and put on the bottom of the envelope the words ‘code orange.’"

Bradley was then told that a courier would arrive within 10 minutes to pick up the envelope from his home. He was instructed to stay close to the phone to wait for more instructions until she arrived.

The fake constable called back and said the courier was having trouble finding the address, so he told Bradley to go outside and stand on the driveway. 

"A young lady appears, it didn't seem to be the right type of person to be a justified qualified courier," said Bradley.

"But by the same token, when they do appear and they say ‘code orange’ to me (and) it kind of cleared it in my mind that these were the right people."

Bradley says the woman walked down the street a few homes down and left the area, but it wasn’t until a little while later that he realized he was scammed.

A GoFundMe page has since been created in an effort to recoup some of Bradley's funds, but he says the real victory in his eyes would be to catch the culprits responsible.

"They called again this morning, the same gentleman, the same voice, the same overtone figure and he thought he had hooked me.

"This scam is a very smooth, sophisticated system with some very sophisticated professionals that are doing a disservice to so many people." 

POLICE AND FRAUD EXPERTS WARN OF SCAMS 

Calgary police and fraud experts continue to be on the lookout for telephone scammers responsible for stealing thousands upon thousands of dollars from elderly and vulnerable Albertans.

Better Business Bureau president and CEO Mary O’Sullivan-Andersen says Calgarians should be aware of scammers and do their due diligence to ask critical questions should someone cold call their home or cell phone.

"We don't even realize that we are putting those that we are close to us at risk sometimes, but if we're sharing information about our travels or where we are, then the fact of the matter is that there are family members that could end up being a victim," she said.

"That's not to say do not post about anything online, but it is to say that we need to make sure that we're educating those close to us on why there are risk factors around that, it’s really important."

O’Sullivan-Andersen adds that Calgarians who receive spam calls should immediately report them to law enforcement.

"We see all too often with scams and frauds where people are embarrassed or ashamed and they don't want to report it, and they're out thousands of dollars and more importantly, their security is lost."