Kyle Hislop

  Yesterday I received a call from my wife's grandfather.  He was pretty distraught and a little confused.  He wanted to know how to wire $3500 to Toronto because his granddaughter (not my wife - the other one) was in a car accident.  At this point I was a little confused myself because I was sure my sister-in-law was not in Toronto but rather here in good 'ol Chilliwack.  All he knew was she was in an accident - needed money - and the money had to be sent to another individual.  Right away red flags went off in my head and I told him not to send any money - that his granddaughter was safe and it sounded like someone was trying to take advantage of him.  Later that evening after he had a chance to talk to his daughter (my mother-in-law) I heard the rest of the story.  
  A young lady called him and simply said "Hi grandpa", in which he responded, "Hi, Becky (not the granddaughters real name)".  After that, in his mind he was talking to Becky, even later when talking to me, he really thought it was her voice on the phone.  Goes to show the true power of suggestion.
  It's a good little scam I guess.  Once a person thinks they are talking to a particular person, the voice is really irrelevant.  Young girl - young voice - fits a young granddaughter.  Now I don't know about your grandparents but my wife's grandfather is a very smart guy and I am shocked that he could be taken like this.  However, look at the system - add some trauma - a loved one - long distance - urgency - and it's a perfect storm for any caring grandparent.  I'm sure if you worked at this long enough and got good with people on the phone you could make a nice living off of taking advantage of others.  It reminds me of a game we used to play as kids - seeing how long you could talk with a random stranger on the phone - that is until call display ruined our fun :)
  The saving grace for my wife's grandfather is the fact that he didn't know how to get the money to the person in Toronto.  If he did, he would have been out $3500 bucks.  So I feel we should all take a little time this holiday season to talk with our grandparents about being careful with the information given out on the phone.  I'm sure there are a million other scams just like this one with a million more coming down the pipe.  However, one of the great things about social media and the internet is stories like this can be shared quicker and to a large audience instantly.  Be sure to pass this story onto others - and be safe this Christmas.

Kyle Hislop
RE/MAX