A woman has warned homeowners to beware, after her trusting husband was duped into handing over cash to a scam artist.
Jackie Yeates said her husband, Mike Nelle, answered their door on Afton Drive in central Richmond around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to be greeted by a man in his 30s.
The man, according to Yeates, was apparently in some distress, in that his car had been towed by Rusty's Auto Towing, he had no cash, and he needed to get his mom to hospital.
He had a smart appearance, was of East Indian origin and claimed to live down the street from the senior couple, who live near Gilbert and Francis roads.
Being a man who gladly helps people as much as he can, Nelle, 59, handed the con artist $60 and was promised he'd get the cash back.
"He was so convincing," said Yeates, 63. "It was only after he'd left that I remembered he said Rusty's towed his car away. Our grandson works for Rusty's and so I called him.
"Of course, no car had been towed that day by them. And if this man was truly a neighbour, he'd have seen our grandson's tow truck out front all the time and he wouldn't have used the Rusty's name in his story."
Yeates lamented that the $60 was a portion of the $100 she had in her purse to go grocery shopping.
"We've reported it to the police, but we know there's not much they can do now," she added.
"I just want everyone out there to know that this guy is in the area and this is the kind of scam he's pulling.
"I'd hate for this to happen to someone else. My husband is such a trusting man; he still thinks this guy is coming back with the money."
Richmond RCMP confirmed they'd received the report and, with March being Fraud Prevention Month, are warning how fraudsters are using increasingly sophisticated methods to target people of all ages.
The more you know about a fraud, say the RCMP, the less likely you are to fall victim to it.
. Canadians between the ages of 50 and 59 are the most targeted by mass marketing fraud operations;. Victims in that age group reported the highest dollar loss.
The RCMP's Fraud Prevention Month campaign is featuring four themes: Scams targeting seniors; identity theft; email fraud and phishing (Internet scams).
