Scam victim comes forward to help others

On April 4, Vern and Joan Haberman woke up to some heart-wrenching news.

The phone call came at 8:30 a.m. "Hi Uncle Vern," the voice on the other end said. "Do you know who this is?"

It sounded like his nephew, Brett, Vern said.

The caller confirmed. He had been in a car accident in Regina. He had been drinking, not a lot, but enough that he was being held by police. He had a broken nose, but was otherwise okay.

The other parties in the collision just wanted the damage to their car paid for, to the tune of $2,265.45. He would not be charged, but had to come up with the money to be released. He didn't want his parents, Joan's sister and brother-in-law, to know. Could Aunt Joan and Uncle Vern help him out? He would pay them back just as soon as he could get out of jail.

Brett's lawyer, a prominent legal name in Regina, got on the phone and gave Vern instructions to wire the money via Western Union to a person in Hampstead, Quebec.

In retrospect, Joan said, this was one of many red flags that should have tipped them off to the scam. Nevertheless, the money had been wired. They awaited Brett's call.

It came the next morning, but not from their nephew. It was the "lawyer" again.

Demonstrating uncompromising audacity, the fraudsters had come back for more. They had a problem, the man said. It appeared they were dealing with ambulance chasers.

He claimed Brett had appeared before a judge, but would have to post $2,300 bail. The money would be transferred directly back into the Habermans' bank as soon as their nephew was released Monday morning.

Vern was again off to the bank, then Cashplan, a local Western Union agent. This time both the bank manager and the Cashplan employee raised the red flag, but Vern politely declined to discuss it saying it was a "family matter."

Joan said they should have seen all the holes in the story.

Things like Brett not identifying himself, rather waiting for his uncle to put the pieces together; his conveniently broken nose in case his voice didn't sound right; the precise amount for the damage so early the very next morning; that police would not lay charges for drinking and driving; that if there were not charges, why he would be in jail; the unusually high bail amount and its remarkable similarity to the damages tally; and the unorthodox method of transferring the cash.

"In hindsight, all these things come to mind," Joan said. "But that's hindsight; you don't think of it at the time. They prey on your emotions."

She did have a "gut feeling," they had been played, though, so she told her daughter, who immediately told her she had been scammed. An ember of hope remained, however, when they could not get through to Brett on his cell phone.

That hope was dashed when Joan called her sister, who confirmed Brett was safe and sound in Prince Albert. They had just had coffee together that morning.

Joan bawled her eyes out. She said she is not naïve. She knew these scams were out there. She had even heard of ones very similar to this one. And yet, they were still duped.

"I was very embarrassed," she said. "I felt stupid. I don't know what other word to use. How stupid am I to fall for this?"

Despite her embarrassment, Joan felt compelled to come forward "just to create more awareness."

Detective Staff Sergeant Gord Pilon of the Regina Police Service Commercial Crimes Unit (CCU) said the Habermans are not alone and many otherwise smart people are frequently taken in.

"We see this on a regular basis, unfortunately," he said.

In February, the CCU investigated five cases in four days of people who had been stung by similar scams. One gentleman, who believed his grandson was in trouble in Moose Jaw, went to three different Western Union outlets in Regina to wire money because the first two refused recognizing and warning him it was a fraudulent scheme.

Pilon said anybody could be vulnerable because of the sophistication of the con artists.

"These guys on the phone are very well-polished," he said. "They've got this down to a science."

He thinks it is very unlikely the fraud is being run out of Regina.

"Our best sense tells us it's probably happening out of Quebec," he said.

And the chances of catching the perpetrators are slim because they use fake identification obtained over the Internet and are usually long gone with the money by the time the crime is even reported.

Carol Reed, the clerk at Cashplan in Yorkton, who handled the transactions for the Habermans, said she did everything she could to warn Vern, including calling the Western Union fraud line to ask them to put a hold the transaction until they could talk to the customer.

"I knew in my gut it was wrong," she said.

She said she has not received specific training in preventing fraud and is not aware of any corporate policy, but she does what she can to educate and help people even if it means losing customers.

"It's personal with our store," she said. "We may lose business, but we still feel their best interest is at heart."

It is not easy, though, she continued, particularly if the customer is not willing to share the details of what is happening.

"We care about our customers. We ask them questions and try to educate them, but in the end, it's their choice."

Kristin Kelly, a spokesperson for Western Union corporate, said her company is well aware that it is a primary conduit for fraudulent transactions. In addition to providing its agents with training protocols and frequent alerts about known scams, she said the company has internal systems that flag suspicious transactions.

Western Union's fraud policies and the details of internal controls are not publicly available, Kelly said because they don't want to tip their hand to criminals. She did mention, however, that certain countries that are known to be havens of fraudsters are on their watch list, including Canada.

All of this is small comfort for Joan and Vern, but they are determined to help others avoid learning a very expensive lesson as they did.

"I just wanted to get it out there," she said. "As embarrassed as I am, maybe I'll help someone else."