James Ferguson

There seems to be a phone scam which uses the number,
514 621 4829, which is a Quebec, Canada number.

A man using the name James Ferguson, who claimed to be from the American embassy in the Dominican Republic, calls unsuspecting grandparents and informs them that their grandchild has been arrested in some country. In my friend's case it was Costa Rica. He told my friend that his son would be held in a jail cell unless he sent $2800 to any Western Union in Costa Rica with the name Jaquepia Bernard. He said my friend was to tell Western Union that this was a relative he was sending cash to.

The supposed grandson, whose voice my friend was a little unsure of, told my friend not to call his parents; inciting some element of secrecy. Since the Grandpa is an honorable man, and thinking he was the boy's confidant, he refrained from calling the Dad. I came to my friend's assistance, who had already caught the handful of red-flags and we called the grandson, who was safe and sound in Oregon.

Unfortunately, when I Googled James Ferguson with the phone number, I read a blog from a poor grandmother who'd lost $3500 to this organization before realizing it was a scam.

My friend saw this was a scam, but he wasn't feeling particularly good that day, and had just risen from a nap.
Poor hearing, coupled with these circumstances make this scam a ripe technique for the slimy jerks to make off with innocent people's money.

I called James Ferguson and told him my uncle had just had a heart attack and was likely not going to survive. He asked me to go ahead with the payment. How do ya like that?