Lyonel Doherty
Times-Chronicle
An Oliver senior put the brakes on a scammer, but she admits she almost fell prey to the convincing ruse.
Eunice Marriott received a “private call” from a young person who identified himself as her oldest grandson. That scared her because he suffers from a medical condition.
The young man said he was in jail.
“He told me he woke up with a sore throat and his friend was driving him for a COVID test.”
The man then told her they were stopped by police who found marijuana in the trunk. Marriott informed him that cannabis was now legal, but the fellow said the police found 10 pounds of it and put him in jail. He stated that bail was an option for $6,000 and asked her to help him out.
“I was a little suspicious and said no. Then he hung up.”
But Marriott said the story did make some sense and the caller sounded like her grandson. In fact, if he had asked for a lesser amount of money, she may have given it to him.
Marriott normally talks to her grandson once a week; that’s his way of “checking up on grandma.”
“He sounded like him. He kind of mumbles like young people do. It had to be somebody who knew him.”
Marriott said he didn’t want her to tell anyone about the call, especially his mother in Langley.
But she called her daughter (in Oliver), who in turn called the mother, who then contacted her son’s social worker to check up on him in Summerland. He wasn’t sick and he wasn’t in jail; he was at home.
Marriott was subsequently informed by police that this was a common scam and there would be no request for bail in these circumstances.
Marriott hopes her experience will prevent others from falling prey to the same scam.
