Calgary criminal defence lawyer warns public after his name used in 'bail scam'

Imagine getting a call from a criminal defence lawyer who says your loved one is in trouble and needs bail money to get the person out of jail that's happening in Alberta but it's a scam.

A defence lawyer in Calgary says someone has been using his name in an effort to defraud people out of thousands of dollars.

David Chow has had to post a fraud bulletin on his website warning the public that someone has been calling unsuspecting Albertans pretending to be him and asking for bail money for clients who don't exist.

"There's people out there that are using our business model against us and that really concerns me," said Chow. "In order for us to run a business, we need to have an online presence, and now fraudsters are starting to capitalize on that online presence."

'I'm feeling vulnerable'

Three people in the past several weeks have called Chow to ask if he was, in fact, representing a family member who was in police custody.

One of those people is Ellen, a senior citizen who lives in Edmonton. CBC News is not using her real name in order to protect her identity.

"I'm feeling vulnerable," Ellen told CBC News. "You become suspicious of everybody."

This week, Ellen says, she received a phone call from a man pretending to be Chow who asked for $5,000 to get her nephew out of jail.

The story was that her nephew was in trouble, he'd been caught drinking and driving after getting in an accident. Since he had barely blown over the legal limit, police agreed to release him from jail if he paid out-of-pocket for the damages he'd caused.

She asked some followup questions about how to get the money to the authorities and the caller said he would phone her back.

The bail scam

When he did call back, Ellen had already talked to her son. She asked the caller to describe what he wanted again and the caller refused and hung up.

"It scares me now," said Ellen. "You're trusting and you want to be trusting he was my nephew and he needed help."

In other cases, it was bail money that was requestedin order to secure the release of a family member.

The so-called "bail scam" is known to police.

"These scams are not new, they just kind of evolve," said a spokesperson for the Calgary Police Service.

Police can confirm a loved one in custody

And as Ellen and Chow found out, there's not a whole lot police can do in terms of investigating and tracking down the fraudsters.

But CPS does encourage people to report incidents like this one because if there is a significant increase in a particular type of scam, they can shift investigative resources and warn the public.

The economic crimes unit encourages people to do their research: "Do a bit of critical thinking, get the information and call the lawyer back independently."

To avoid losing money to a fraud like this one, CPS says police can confirm if a loved one is in custody.

Chow has heard from three would-be victims in the past fewweeks but is worried there are more who haven't reported the fraudulent calls to him or police.

"They're using my name to actually get money from somebody else and that really does bother me, that upsets me."

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