A septuagenarian who came within a whisker of falling into the trap of mischievous crooks who created an entire story surrounding her grandson with the sole aim of extorting $4,000 from him is inviting people to use the holidays to share their stories Love to discuss fraud tactics to better protect yourself.
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“I thought I would never get caught in my life. I'm intelligent, I'm informed, I've already talked about it with the people around me. In my head you could see it as cheating, but no,” admits Francine Forget Plante.
One morning she received a call: “Hello, Grandma,” said a familiar voice on the phone.
“I recognized my grandson’s voice. Same way of speaking. It's like it's really him. “Lord, that can’t be right,” says the lady, who doesn’t suspect anything.
The person who identified himself as his relative said he had just been in a traffic accident while using his cell phone while driving. He needed about $4,250 to pay his bail.
“They’re going to put me in jail, Grandma, and if I don’t want to go to jail, I need bail,” the crook told her. “You think about it afterwards and realize it doesn’t make any sense,” she drops.
Save your grandson
She then spoke to a fake lawyer who had a calm, reassuring voice. So she rushed to the bank to make the withdrawal.
“At that time I didn’t have time to think about anything other than saving my grandson,” she explains.
Francine Forget Plante Photo Agency QMI, JOEL LEMAY
And as the lawyer had suggested to her on the phone, the septuagenarian made up a little lie at the bank counter in order to withdraw such an amount without sowing doubt among the employees.
“I was warned: 'Don't say the money is for your grandson because that could hamper the proceedings in his case.' I just didn't want him to have a file [criminel] spoiled,” she tells the Journal.
She even told the story to her sister-in-law during the day, who also fell for it. “We both encouraged each other and believed in each other,” she says.
A few hours later, her grandson's lawyer called her back and offered to send “a bail agent” to her home to collect the money, saving her the trip to Montreal.
“I can still imagine myself saying to him, ‘You’re very nice.’ I thought he was doing a good deal, he was doing me a favor,” she recalls, sighing in discouragement.
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The bail agent was outside her house when she ended up having “a lot of doubts.” She describes him as looking far too young and poorly dressed to be a law enforcement employee.
Ms. Forget Plante therefore did not open the door and instead called the Longueuil police. Officers immediately came to her home.
“We are well aware of the subterfuge and the phenomenon. We make it our duty to act quickly. Fraudsters apply pressure and play on the sense of urgency to make people vulnerable,” explains Sergeant François Boucher, spokesman for the Longueuil agglomeration police department.
Francine Forget Plante with François Boucher, spokesman for the Longueuil municipal police. Photo agency QMI, JOEL LEMAY
This type of fraud has psychological consequences and can rob an elderly person of all their savings, he adds.
Francine Forget Plante considers herself lucky about this turn of events, but is still ashamed and insulted at being caught: “They are really looking for your feelings. My mind was completely gone.”
She advises talking to loved ones about the topic during the holiday season: “I still blame myself. We need to talk about this so we can all be more vigilant. If my story can prevent just one person from being scammed, that would be a victory,” she concludes.
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