Blame Canada!
Spectator Staff
Issue date: 10/20/08 Section: Police Blotter
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At 10:45 a.m. a man called an officer to ask about his son, a UW-Eau Claire student. The student's grandmother had received a phone call from a person claiming to be the student's friend and that they were stranded in Canada. The person said the student was not injured, but had been in an accident near Niagara Falls, damaging another car. The person said the local police would not let them return to the United States, unless she transferred $9,000 to a Wal-Mart store. The person knew a lot of information about the student and told the grandmother not to contact the student's parents because the student wanted to explain the situation to them in person.
The student's father told the officer that the grandmother had asked him to help her transfer the money. The man said he had seen his son the day before and doubted he was in Canada, but couldn't reach him via cell phone to verify.
The officer promised to check on the student, but told the man that the call sounded like a scam. The officer told the man to tell the student's grandmother not to send the money.
The officer tried calling and e-mailing the student, with no response. Then the officer spoke with someone at the Office of Student Development and Diversity, who confirmed that the student had been in class that morning and was currently in another class. The officer arranged for a note to be sent to the student's professor during class.
The officer phoned the man, who was relieved to hear his son was OK and at the university. The officer told the man to advise the student's grandmother to tell the person calling from Canada that she knew he was lying and had reported his call to the police.
The officer told the man the person had probably learned so much information about his son through his Facebook or MySpace profile.