What a scam. Three or four calls lately from someone with a heavy accent to say I was in trouble, and could be arrested and go to jail. I decided I would try to take one of them on and see how long I could keep them on the line. I kept them on for 11 minutes 46 seconds.

So here’s how it went…

The call came, and the automated threat says “push one” (or else)

So I pushed one.

A live “agent” came on the line. “Hello, this is agent Nick Henry”, could I have your full name?

“My name is Terry Brown”.

Could I have the last three digits of your SIN?”

So I picked three numbers – “216”

“Thank you sir, now could I have your postal code?”

So I gave them one from Edmonton that I found online for a house that’s for sale.

“So you’re in Edmonton, correct?”

“Yes, that is correct”

“Are you aware that there are serious allegations on file that involve your social insurance number” (I had not yet given him any true information)

“No, I did not”

“Have you ever been to Quebec? These allegations center in Quebec City”.

“Yes I have been to Quebec.”

“There are three allegations against you. What banks do you have accounts with?”

So I thought – okay, let’s say Bank of Montreal and one account… the scammer continued.

“These are serious allegations which include money laundering, off shore accounts and serous criminal charges. I need to confirm that you are the correct person so I will need your full social insurance number.”

This is where the conversation started to run into trouble…

“If you have my social insurance number there why don’t you read it to me and I’ll let you know if it’s right.”

We went back and forth on this for a bit… and when I wouldn’t give my number, the guy hung up. Imagine that, here I am in trouble with the law, and looking at serious jail time and he hung up the phone. That wasn’t very nice.

But I did keep him going in circles for a bit.

I can’t believe that this scam keeps going – all I can assume is that some people take this seriously.