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| rsday, August 18, 2016 | 14 By Tim Whitnell METROLAND WEST MEDIA GROUP PION | Thu "Mom, mom, don‘t hang up! I am hurt and ! have a broken nose. I need help! Don‘t hang up. | am so sorry. I love you." With those words, a Halton Region resident was immediately, unwittingly and emoâ€" ag tionally roped into the world of fraudulent 9 schemes, uitimately costing her and her husâ€" § band $5,000. «) Lori â€" not her real name as she requested € anonymity, with Halton police confirming eE she made a report to them â€" is by her own sdescflpfion a "young" senior who believed §she was too aware and knowledgeable to fall prey to the many financial schemers and § scammers out there. It all began with a morning phone call. On ‘= the other end of the line, supposedly, was her ing son. He lives in eastern Ontario. The panicked, agonized voice calling her ‘mom‘ told her he had been in a car accident in western Quebec, the other driver had sufâ€" TELEPHONE SCAM Fraudsters bilk $5K from Halton resident fered broken bones and he was accused of impaired driving. Her son had apparently broken his nose in the accident and required a lot of stitches. He . was arrested and in a Quebec jail. He needed money for bail and medical expenses. "You‘re just flattened. You‘re envisioning him hurting in a jail cell," Lori said of her visceral reaction to that first phone call. The man, claiming to be her son, was quickly replaced on the line by another man saying he was an Ottawaâ€"area lawyer representing him. "I immediately Googled the name and there is a lawyer by that name in that city. The picâ€" ture looked convincing of the age of the man I spoke with. He sounded very kind and very caring," said Lori. There were about 10 phone calls made by mesonandhislawerovert\mdayslnmld- March, she said. Lori said her supposed son‘s voice did:â€"sound a bit off or different. BR "I enquired as to whether he had suffered a concussion and was told that an MRI had been done and he was good .but was on VISIT YOUR LOCAL BEAM EXPERT FOR DETAILS! 550 Ontario St. South, U Unit 8 Wiiiton Located in the Country Style Plaza w.wnmm_omm No Rainchacis. 'u-mnnnnw-uâ€"nm-uunu-â€"un-unnnm strong pain medication so he might sound a little dozy." Lori said the people posing as her son and the lawyer knew certain personal and professionâ€" al details about their son that left them with no suspicion they were being duped. She said at some point the lawyer told her he was trying to get the case postponed because of a "harsh":judge assigned to the case, and that Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) had reps in the courtroom for his case. Eventually, the lawyer.called to say the judge had dropped all the charges on the condition that the victim‘s medical bills be paid because they were from outside:Canada and had no : insurance. > 'Thentheemoflonandthemkeswere rampedupoonsldenblylnalatecphonecall from their son. â€""He was tellingâ€"me that this victim with the â€"broken arm had died: and he was blamed for the death; The charges were increased and ‘were of a very serious nature. He kept saying, ‘Mom, it was only one bottle of beer." "The gut wrenching horror was overwhelmâ€" ing and it seemed so real as the phrases were phrases that my son would use." , The ‘lawyer‘ kept telling Lor? that Quebec poâ€" lice are difficult to work with. She was told that bail was needed and half was going to Nwwlwmwm 905.878.9222 /"The pa m ‘ "Mr. Kind Lawyer," as Lori now sarcastically refers to him, "said he was going to get the court stuff rolling and would have my son reâ€" leased by the end of the day. il needed to be sent immediately and to address it to a dourt clerk and he gave me her name. He gave me his cellphone numâ€" ber and asked me to let him know when the money was sent. "He very kindly offered me the address of a Western Union in my vicinity," she recalled. "Of course, I got a second call and the soâ€" called friend had reneged on posting the othâ€" er half of the bail, so once again | was off to send another amount of money to the same soâ€"called court clerk." in all, five wire transfers, two the first day and three the second, all for $1,000 each, were sent via Western Union to a couple of locaâ€" tions in the Montreal area. "This is not unusual as | have legitimately sent money via Western Union before," said Lori. At one point Lori said she asked the lawyer if they could call their son on his cellphone, but was told it had been confiscated. She also was told their son had spoken to his partner and not to call her. | "Emotions escalated that night as I could only envision my son injured and hurting in a jail cell. Lack of sleep, as well as emotion, had toâ€" tally overtaken me," said Lori. "Despair is the only way to describe it," she said. ' * D TRAEGER® WwOoOoD PELLET GRILLS 385 Stecies Ave. E. miltonhomehardware.ca v on C U uCC . CC 0K tmsmltttt\l\ll‘ltLttt\l‘tt\\‘umuttmnnhkn | .A.fi‘i %.4. T. 8. tat i M 3. 18 .8, +. t. 8. 9. ® A P