- pleasant
wanted $400 for a club miember-
‘ship fee.

vented a local person from losing
more than $1,600 to a suspicious
phone solicitation company.
_ The bait used against the 75-
" year-old woman is fairly common
— a person is told they’ve won
$25,000 but they must first send
sales lax in cash.

In this case, the woman did
send $1,630 via a courier compa-

“ny but it and a locai RCMP of-
ficer stopped the delivery to the
Quebec-based phone firm.

*"We can't say it was a scam
but it had all the makings — you
never know,” said Constable
Kim Hall who worked with
Loomis on the matter.

Hall said she was made aware
of the situation from the woman’s
daughter after the package with
the money had been sent.

“It was sent to Quebec, Luckily

"the Woman put the wrong postal

code on the package,’” said Hall.

“There were some frantic
phone calls from here to Quebec.
Because of the postal code,
Loomis still had the package.
Otherwise, it would have been
delivered. Ps

Loomis held the package at
Hall’s request but the phone
solicitation company made anoth-
er attempt to get the money.

“‘A man called the woman back
and said they were going to suc
everybody, including the RCMP

’ if she didn’t make sure the pack-

age was delivered,” Hall. con-
tinued.

“She called Loomis and asked
that it be delivered, I had asked
Loomis to call me to confirm be-
cause that man may have had a

~ Woman almost lost $1,600

Police expose phone scam

QUICK THINKING has pre-

female accomplice who could
have called with those Instnic-
tions,” she said.

Loomis did phone Hall and she
was able to stop the second
delivery attempt.

“‘There’s some good people at
Loomis. They were very help-
ful,’’ said Hall of the events. |

One Loomis employee, Hall
added, was familiar with the ad-
dress of the phone solicitalion
company,

“Tt was on what he called ‘pen
alley’,”’ said Hall of the phrase
used to describe the area in which
solicitation companies work.

The word ‘pen’ comes from a
one-time standard phoned-based
scam in which people are sold in-
ferior pens at extravagant prices.

These types of scams are all to

frequent and prey mainly on older *

people, said Hall.

She wamed people that if
voice on the phone offers some-
thing too good to be true, that’s

usually the case.
One particularly brutal scheme

takes two whacks at unsuspecting

_people who send money from

Canada to the United States.

‘When the cheque does get
there, the person is phoned and
told they had sent the money in
Canadian funds, so please send
more to cover the exchange,”
said Hall.

Hall gave a brief presentation
last week at the seniors’ Happy
Gang Centre on the dangers of
phone soliciting.

She asked those at the meeting
to check with relatives or the
RCMP first before sending any
money.

‘These people are very good at
what they do,’* Hall warned,

A goodly number of those pres-
ent at the meeting indicated they
received phone calls from com-
panies telling them they’ve won
cash, vacations or vehicles,

Smooth talker stings woman

By JENNIFER McLARTY
A TERRACE resident is out $200
after responding to a personnel ad
that originated in Smithers and
which also ran in The Terrace
Standard.

* Ingrid Weik, 60, said she sent

the money in response to the ad
promoting a companions’ club.

- Weik responded to the ad and
soon found herself talking to a
sounding man wha

The cordial voice on the other
end of the line made her forget
that the ad had clearly stated the
list was free.

Unable to pull together the full
amount, she sent a Mr. Keith
Hutcheon a $200 cheque via the
post box number in return for a
list of eligible bachelors,

What she got was disappointing
—a list of names with addresses
but without phone numbers.

Weik selected two and the
meetings were arranged, one at
her home, the other at a hotel in
Burns Lake.

“Both meetings were night-
mares,’? Weik said.

The men were elther unemploy-
ed, sexually aggressive or, bully-
ing, not at all. the dream she had

‘of finding s soniecne to spend time

with.

Both men. had also paid
Hutcheon $200 or more for a list
of women in the area.

Frustrated with the results,
Weik tried to get in touch with
Hutcheon, but the contact num-
bers given to her were no longer
in service.

She also tried the ‘motel where

Hutcheon said he sometimes ar-
ranged meetings between clients,
' but the staff have no record of the
name. wan ;

“Now I’m out $200 and still
alone,” Weik said. ‘This man is
running a scam and should be
stopped from preying on lonely
people like myself.””

The ad stopped running i in mid
July in both papers. 3.

, Ads run by NeWERAPEE «ft. i

often taken on the basis of buyer
beware.

“It's like running an ad for a

‘used car that says ‘excellent con-

dition,'”’ said Vic Swan, [mterior
News: publisher. “We have to
trust the advertiser is being
honest.’

Only obvious scams that ask for
money outright in exchange for
information are avoided by
papers.

THE EVIL art of phone scams
was the topic last week of a
talk by RCMP Constable Kim
Hall to a seniors’ meeting.
When in doubl, ask questions
she says.

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