A Kimberley senior, who prefers that her name not be made public, was on the receiving end of a scam last week and almost came out $5000 poorer for it.

She says she is hard of hearing and when the first call came last Thursday, she couldn’t hear who it was and hung up. But the phone rang again.

“I answered and this guy said ‘I’m your son’. And then I made a mistake and I said, ‘Robert?’ And he said yes. I said where are you and he said Toronto.”

The caller then proceeded to tell her that he’d been in an impaired driving accident and had been charged. He needed money and urged the woman to take down the information. I said, you sound different and he said oh, I hit the steering wheel with my face.”

Upset, she told the caller to hang on and called her neighbour over, thinking he could hear the details of where to send the money more clearly.

“He told my neighbour he broke his nose and jaw and needed $4900. We were supposed to send it to a lawyer. I said I’ll send it through the credit union and he said no Western Union would be better.

“I was going to take out the money.”

Her neighbour, who was heading to Trail that day, said he’d take her to Cranbrook to the Western Union office on his way and then she could take a cab home.

And here’s where a piece of very good luck came her way. Her real son called.

“While I was waiting for my neighbour, my son calls and says ‘Hi Mom’. And I asked where are you, I just heard you were in an accident. He said no, no I’m in Trail. I was so relieved I almost couldn’t walk. My neighbour had to help me back into the house.”

While she feels a little embarrassed she was almost scammed, she wanted to get the word out so no other unsuspected seniors would fall for it.

“It seemed so real. He told me not to tell anyone, it was embarrassing for him. If my son hadn’t phoned me, I would have done it. I want to make sure it doesn’t happen to others.”

The scammer had said he’d call back to get the confirmation number for the money transfer. He did and the woman’s neighbour took the call for her.

“He told him that he knew it was a scam.”

The reaction?

“He laughed and hung up.”