A former Estevan resident has issued a warning about a scam involving someone pretending to be with the STARS Air Ambulance, after her mother lost thousands of dollars through the fraud.
Gail Wheatley says her mother received a call, claiming that Wheatley’s mother had won $45,000 and a new car through a STARS lottery. But it proved to be a fraud, and her mother, whose name was not released, lost more than $6,000.
Wheatley found out about the scam after she and her husband returned from the Dominican Republic. Once she found out her mother was believing she had won, Wheatley booked a flight from her home in Calgary so she could get to Estevan.
“These guys said they were coming to deliver the prize to my mother’s house, and she lives in Inglis Court,” said Wheatley.
When a friend checked in on Wheatley’s mother, she was on the phone with the scammer who was reportedly being very abrasive.
Based on her research, Wheatley believes the scammers are based out of Jamaica, thanks to their 876 phone number. Wheatley noted a lot of scams are out of Jamaica and have the 876 area code, and they dupe people out of millions of dollars each year.
The scammer was going by the name Michael Bradley, and Wheatley added that people who have posted on Facebook about the STARS scam said they received a call from someone named Michael.
Wheatley called the scammer and confronted him over the phone, saying the Estevan Police Service would be present if he showed up to present the prize to her mother. He hung up on Wheatley. When she called him back, she said he didn’t appreciate the call.
“I said to him ‘I’m going to get to the bottom of this, Michael, and I’m going to shut you down right across Canada, because I’m not going to let you do this to the senior citizens,” said Wheatley.
Wheatley noted she changed her mother’s phone number after she was victimized, and made it an unlisted number, only for her mother to receive a phone call from another scammer a few days later.
She also suspects the scammers have a local person involved. They tried to meet Wheatley’s mother in person. And she believes somebody stuffed a STARS Air Ambulance pamphlet into her mother’s mailbox, since she was the only person to receive one.
“I think what’s happening is they’re going around and they’re getting the names off the buzzers at the … seniors’ complex, because that seems to be their biggest target, and then they go into the phone books and find their phone numbers, and verify the address,” said Wheatley. “Then they start calling and playing the seniors.”
Wheatley noted her mother is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, and gets confused easily.
The money that Wheatley’s mother lost can’t be recovered, because it was sent on money transfers through the bank. First she lost $1,300 by Purolator to a Florida bank.
“The police should be able to go and take that information, because when you go and open up a bank account, you need identification,” said Wheatley. “So, she has the names of the people she sent it to. The bottom line is even if it was a fake name, they still would have had to present ID when they opened up the account.”
Then Wheatley’s mother was asked to send another $5,000 to a number in Fort McMurray. A Canada Post employee flagged it, and warned her not to send the money. She sent it anyways.
Also, a bank employee changed Wheatley’s mother’s account numbers, and tried stopping the money order, but it had already been cashed.
She knows of other people in Estevan who have been approached by a scammer with an 876 number from Jamaica.
Wheatley is concerned that the scammers are using the STARS Air Ambulance, because she views STARS as a great cause.
Mark Oddan, the communications lead for STARS in Saskatchewan, said they have received reports of scam-related calls happening in the province.
The reports have surfaced at the same time that STARS home lottery is taking place in Saskatchewan.
“Presumably the scammers are taking advantage that our lottery is on now, although they aren’t quite aligned with our dates,” said Oddan.
Oddan noted that when the STARS draws are made, they make phone calls to people who win a marquee prize, or a prize worth a certain amount of money.
“We certainly identify ourselves as being with STARS, and also provide other information that obviously legitimizes who we are,” said Oddan.
Every prize winner receives a letter in the mail to let them know which prize they won, and STARS never asks for money or any other action on the part of the person who has won, other than making arrangements for pickup or delivery of a prize.
“It seems with these scams, one of the common denominators is people are asked to do a wire transfer, write a registered cheque or a money order, or some sort of thing in order to claim their prize or to pay for delivery fees or licencing fees or something like this,” said Oddan.
“When you win a legitimate prize from a STARS lottery, or … any registered lottery, it comes with no strings attached,” said Oddan.
Oddan said STARS hates to see a scam like this occur. They’re disappointed scammers would try to take advantage of the good names of STARS and other charities across the country.
“What we try to emphasize is for people to be extra vigilant,” said Oddan.
If anyone is in doubt as to whether they have won a prize through STARS, Oddan encourages them to check the STARS website, or to contact STARS through their toll-free number.
And if someone suspects they have received a fraud call, Oddan encourages them to hang up and call the local police or the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
