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Senior swindled in bait-and-switch scam By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF 5 · Thursday, March 4, 2010 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com Halton police are asking local seniors to be wary after a 79-year-old woman was conned out of a large amount of money outside the Price Chopper grocery store, located at Third Line and Dundas Street, on Monday. Police said the elderly woman had just parked her car and was on her way into the store to do some shopping at 11 a.m., when she was approached by a distraught woman in tears. This woman claimed she had just won a large amount of money in the lottery, but could not collect the windfall because she was not a legal resident of Canada. At this point, a man arrived on the scene and offered to help. The woman said the money would be released to her if she put a large sum of money up front. The woman then said that if the senior and the man provided this sum, she would pay them back with extra once she had the lottery money. The woman and the man convinced the senior to withdraw a large amount of cash from her bank account, which was then placed in an envelope along with the man's contribution. As the senior still had purchases to make at the grocery store, the woman and man gave her what she thought was the cash-filled envelope to "It's a very old street scam that's been around forever. The people that do this usually pick on seniors or anyone who is trustworthy." Detective Duncan Taylor, Halton Regional Police Fraud Unit hold onto for safekeeping while she shopped. When the senior came out of the store, both the man and woman were gone and when she opened the envelope she found only newspaper. "It's a very old street scam that's been around forever," said Detective Duncan Taylor, Halton Regional Police Fraud Unit. "The people that do this usually pick on seniors or anyone who is trustworthy." Taylor said the scam is all about capturing the victim's trust, which is accomplished when a seemingly innocent bystander, in reality the scammer's partner, becomes involved and convinces the victim that what the scammer is asking for makes sense. "The other guy will say he's putting in money, too. `You put up your money, I'll put up my money and we trust you to hold onto it,'" said Taylor. "Then they'll do a sleight-of-hand thing and the next thing you know, they leave her with what she thinks is the money, but in reality, she just has some paper." Police are reminding residents, especially seniors, to beware of this type of scam and to remember that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. The first suspect is described as a LatinAmerican woman, 30-40 years old, 5-foot-3, with dark hair, wearing a French-style hat with her hair pulled back. The second suspect is described as a man of Middle Eastern or West Asian decent, 30-40 years old, 5-foot-7 and clean-shaven. The vehicle the man drove is described as a small four-door car, grey in colour. The Halton Regional Police Service is continuing to investigate this incident and anyone with information related to it is asked to contact the Halton Regional Police Service Fraud Unit at 905-825-4777, ext. 5399 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). 905.847.7333 or toll free 1.866.707.7333 Serving Oakville Since 2005 · airport flat rates · 24 hr. service · commercial accounts · local & out-of-town · luxury sedans edwinlimoinc@yahoo.com s r r TM Creating sensational smiles in Oakville for 15 years.