It’s a phone call no parent wants to receive.
Last Friday, Joan Renton was contacted by a man, claiming to be a lawyer, who told her her son Kyle had been in a car crash.
“He told me Kyle was texting and driving and rear-ended a rental vehicle,” Renton said.
“He told me Kyle was about to face a judge.”
The man then asked Renton if she wanted to speak to her son.
On the phone he says, ‘Hi mom,’ and then his voice broke and he said, ‘I’m being charged with criminal negligence.'”
An hour later the lawyer called back to tell Renton the charges would be dropped, but first, she would have to pay a legal fee, a fine, and pay for damage to the vehicle.
“He said, ‘You need to get these Steam cards, go to Shoppers Drug Mart that’s where you get them,'” Renton said.
Steam cards are a kind of online, gaming gift card.
Renton used her Visa credit card and withdrew cash from her bank account.
The total came to $14, 000.
But, when Renton spoke to Kyle three days later to ask about the crash, she was shocked by his response.
“I had no idea what she was talking about,” Kyle said.
Kyle was never in a crash, never spoke to his mom at court and the so-called lawyer and money are both gone.
“I wouldn’t have questioned it if I hadn’t talked to Kyle,” Renton said.
“They hit you where your heart is, which is your kids.”
Kyle believes someone impersonated him by watching videos on his Facebook page and gathered other crucial information.
“She was just looking out for me and they used that to their advantage and got the best of her,” Kyle said.
Calgary police and Visa are investigating but it’s not clear if Renton will be covered under Visa’s insurance policy because she physically purchased all of the cards.
“I just look back and I think how stupid, how embarrassing, how could I fall for something like that?”