By Charles Lefebvre

Police praise cab driver for assisting elderly scam victim

May 8, 2019 | 4:55 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — A Medicine Hat taxi driver is being praised by police for helping a passenger avoid being targeted further by a scammer.

Don Fedoruk, a cab driver with Care Cabs for nearly nine years, picked up a woman in her 80s Tuesday morning, who asked him to take her to SuperStore.

During the ride, she told Fedoruk about a call she had received that morning, supposedly from her bank.

“The caller said her bank account had been hacked, he identified the bank she deals with, and she knew that,” Fedoruk said Wednesday. “He (the called) said, ‘we need your help, we’ve caught somebody.’ This was the story she was given, and they said ‘we need your help to catch the other person.’”

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The caller told her they needed her to go to stores and purchase gift cards, scratch them, and give them the numbers on the card. Fedoruk says the woman had already gone out and purchased approximately $800 worth of gift cards and gave the numbers to the caller before she got into his cab. The caller told her she needed to purchase more gift cards.

“I’m trying to process all of this, and I said to her, ‘I’m pretty sure, I’m 100 per cent sure that if a bank was looking for, if they suspect criminal activity, they’re not going to solicit your help,” Fedoruk said. “I advised her that this was very suspicious. She should be talking to the police first.”

Fedoruk says the woman was insistent to continue to get the cards. He took her to Superstore, where a staff member refused to sell her the cards, telling her she could be scammed. They told her to go to her bank.

Fedoruk drove the woman to the bank, who confirmed the scam. Fedoruk called police and stayed with the woman, who was distraught, until police arrived. Officers took over the investigation and made sure the woman got home safely.

Police praised Fedoruk on social media for helping the woman avoid becoming victimized further.

“We really appreciate our community, especially when they’re able to help each other,” said Sgt. Mike Fischer with the Medicine Hat Police Service. “As a police service, we rely on our community all the time for information, and this is just a great example of people helping each other.”

Fischer adds the incident also serves as a reminder for people to be aware of scams.

“We’ll always ask people to be skeptical, check the source, call the bank, things of that nature, and do your best to keep yourself safe, and your money,” he said.

Fedoruk adds he hopes sharing the story will also allow people, especially seniors, to be vigilant, adding he wished he was able to help the woman before she was out $800.

“Hopefully other seniors realize that, if something like this happens, they talk to a friend, and they realize that if there is a lot of pressure being put on you, then you need to hang up and maybe contact the police,” he said.