The caller identified himself Tuesday, Feb. 15, as Mark.
Mark phoned a Coldstream woman in her 80s, and offered an investment opportunity promising a large return on a $4,000 buy-in. And to help matters along, he said, he would arrange to meet with the woman and drive her to her bank to get the cash.
The woman talked to her bed-ridden husband, also in his 80s, and he thought it was a great idea, according to the woman’s family (who the Morning Star will not identify in this story).
Mark arrived, the woman went with him in his vehicle to her bank in Vernon and withdrew $4,000 from her account. She put the money in an envelope and gave it to Mark, who then returned the woman to her home.
It was the woman’s family who questioned the transaction. When a daughter, who has power of attorney, was looking through the woman’s paperwork, she asked what the $4,000 withdrawal was for.
“It’s a secret. I can’t tell you,” replied the woman. That’s when family called the police.
Family members went to the bank, asking why they didn’t question an elderly woman withdrawing a substantial amount of cash. The family says they were told the bank regularly sees people as old or older than the Coldstream woman withdrawing three times the amount she asked for.
It’s unclear if Mark went into the bank with the woman at this point.
The family says another phone call came later and the woman was told to make out a cheque for $4,000 and send it to a woman in Cawston, near…
