Seymour Eisenberg, 88, was nearly caught in the 'grandparent scam' when a man impersonating his grandson asked him to courier $8,600 to get him out of jail. However, after sending the money, Eisenberg realized his mistake and drove to Montreal to intercept the cheque.
The grandparent scam is a classic in the grifter handbook — because it works, even on smart people like Seymour Eisenberg.
He’s 88, in remarkably good health, still driving and well enough to be volleying a tennis ball around while looking after his wife Edna in their tidy home off Meadowlands Drive.
On July 29, there came a phone call from a man identifying himself as Jason, his grandson. He referred to them as Bubbe and Zayde, the common Jewish names for grandparents.
“It was Jason,” said Eisenberg. “They had him down to a T.”
Then came the pitch. He had been in a car accident in Montreal and was at fault. In order to avoid a charge, the other motorist — through a lawyer — had agreed to accept $8,900 cash, but needed the money right away as he was leaving for Greece.
“Jason” provided a name and address in Montreal where the cash should be sent by overnight courier. When Eisenberg tried to ask questions to confirm Jason’s identity, he said he was in the middle of the police station, surrounded by people, and “couldn’t be throwing (family) names around.”
(He also said they had taken his cellphone.)
Eisenberg was sold. He went to the bank the next day, wrapped the cash in newspaper and sent it via UPS to the address, with delivery expected by the following morning, all for $75.
That evening, though, he began to wonder: what if the recipient says there was no money in the envelope? Then what?
He called his son, Neil, Jason’s father. Accident? What accident? Eisenberg said Neil made a quick call to Jason and located him in B.C., safe and sound.
“My son called me back and said you’ve been scammed.”
Eisenberg immediately decided he would head to Montreal to intercept the parcel. His son, meanwhile, called UPS to alert them to the problem.
“They were very helpful.”
They left early the next morning but got caught in traffic. Worried he would miss the early delivery, he called his daughter Selina, a Montreal resident, and had her stake out the apartment from a safe distance.
When they arrived mid-morning, she was still there. They took over, waiting about an hour for the trademark brown truck to arrive. UPS, meanwhile, had managed to stop delivery and were holding the envelope in Lachine.
They did not knock on the door, though Eisenberg said he wanted to investigate the name on the mailbox, armed with a baseball bat.
“In many ways, I was very fortunate,” said Eisenberg, retired after a career in the insurance and investment world. “If the delivery drop was in Calgary, I never would have got out there.”
Eisenberg got all his money back, so crisis averted.
But he wants to warn other grandparents and also pass along a complaint about the police response.
He says he couldn’t a get live person on the line at the Ottawa police number and, after a couple of false starts, located a fraud extension that encouraged him to send an email or report online.
Not his style. “I’m a dinosaur, I don’t want to send an email.”
Shortly after the attempted fraud, he stopped in to the Elgin Street headquarters to report the crime in person. He says he arrived at 8:15 p.m., only to discover the front counter closed at 8 p.m.
“The main police station closes at 8 o’clock? I don’t get it. So I never made a report in Ottawa.”
A spokesman for the Montreal police wants to ensure Eisenberg they are taking the case seriously.
Const. Manuel Couture said investigators have checked out many leads and are working with Ottawa police on the matter.
“Each time we have (a fraud complaint), we take it very seriously. The victims are so vulnerable that we can’t let that go.”
There are no arrests so far. Couture encouraged this newspaper not to print the address involved because it almost certainly belongs to an innocent person. The name given Eisenberg is likely a phoney one too, he added. (This newspaper called the 514 number provided. It was out of service.)
Eisenberg, meanwhile, wants to warn people how easy it is to get trapped into “the narrative” the fraudster is spinning.
“Once you get into speaking to them, they’re playing you, and they’re very good at it.”
He’s just glad he got his money back.
“Was I smart? No, I screwed up. I was very lucky I called my son the next day. I was lucky the drop was in Montreal. I was lucky with the action UPS took.”
In 2016, more than 800 Canadians fell victim to the grandparent scam, though the total number is thought to be widely under-reported.
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email kegan@postmedia.com
Twitter: @KellyEganColumn
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