SCAMMED

Even the most savvy among us can fall for a con and lose hundreds of dollars. I learned this first-hand when an imposter’s plea arrived in my inbox.

- Bruce Grierson

THE EMAIL POPPED up on my screen at 6:45 a.m. on December 24 last year. I’d already been up for a couple of hours, working to a deadline. It was from someone I know quite well: the minister of West Vancouver’s North Shore Unitarian Church, which my family attends.

“I need a favor from you,” the message said. “Email me as soon as you get my message.”

“Ahoy Ron,” I replied.

A friend was in the hospital battling cancer, he said, and he’d just learned she was scheduled for surgery that night. Could I possibly pick up some iTunes gift cards? “She needs the cards to download her favorite music and videos to boost her condence on her next phase of surgery.” He’d do it himself, but he was tied up, he explained. “I will surely reimburse you as soon as I can.”

No one else in the house was up, so there was no one to run this by. But then, I probably wouldn’t have asked for a second opinion anyway. It didn’t really occur to me that this might be a scam.

“OK,” I emailed back.

“Thank you so much, Bruce,” my correspondent replied. when he got down to business. I was to buy $300 of iTunes credit. (that is quite a lot of music, I thought.) “I need you to scratch the silver lining at the back of each card to reveal the redemption code, then take a snapshot and send them directly to Sharon’s email.” He gave the address.

“Let me know when you’ve sent it,” he wrote. “God bless.”