A 73-year-old woman was scammed on vacation and was shocked when she received her credit card account when she found that earrings bought from a small shop in Mexico didn’t cost her $42, but well and truly $4250 in US currency. BMO refuses for the moment to cancel this transaction.
Francine Galarneau’s dream trip to Cancun turned tragic when the resident of Saint-Brigitte-de-Laval who was staying at the Riu hotel decided, like many tourists, to go to the island of Isla Mujeres where several small shops.
Once there, she is arrested by a man who establishes a bond of trust and sets a trap for her.
Photo Louis Deschenes
73-year-old Francine Galarneau realized when she opened her mail this week that she had been the victim of a scam while buying earrings in Mexico which ultimately cost her 4250 USD $.
“He said to me: do you recognize me? I served you at the Riu hotel, says Mme Galarneau who finds him very sympathetic and begins the discussion in broken English. I said to him: are you staying here? The Mexican answers yes my brother has a jewelry store and my wife works there and he invites me to go see the jewelry. »
This is when the elderly lady decides to buy earrings.
“He gives me the price in pesos and I tell him it’s around US$40, I make him repeat it twice. And he says yes to me,” she explains.
Mme Galarneau makes the payment with the terminal for the credit card. She enters her personal identification number (PIN) and unsuspectingly, she is robbed of the equivalent of $5709 Canadian.
Photo Louis Deschenes
Francine Galarneau and her spouse Jean-Pierre Nadeau ask BMO to erase the transaction on their Mastercard credit card.
BMO Response
As soon as she received her account, Francine Galarneau contacted her credit card company. Despite the kindness of the two people on the phone, BMO tells her that she cannot be reimbursed.
“He blames me for entering my PIN”
Joined by The newspaperBMO’s communications department was cautious in its comments.
“We understand that these situations are difficult and stressful for our clients. We analyze each situation carefully. This situation was brought to our attention on January 8 and is still under review,” BMO said.
“In general, customers should ensure that the correct amount is displayed on point-of-sale terminals before inserting their credit card and entering their PIN to authorize a transaction. We encourage customers to be vigilant at all times,” the company adds.
tourist trap
Francine Galarneau and her spouse Jean-Pierre Nadeau have decided to go out in the media to prevent other travelers from getting caught up in the game.
“We will continue our efforts not to pay the bill, but what I want is to alert people once morest these bandits,” insists the septuagenarian.
By carrying out some research, we can see that the jewelry Joyeria Ambar would have made other victims.
On Tripadvisor, a site that offers opinions and tourist advice, a lady from South Carolina in the United States testifies to having suffered the same fate as Mr.me Mourning.
“We bought earrings for $135 and our credit card was charged $1350. We dispute this with our credit card company,” writes the American.
Just like Francine Galarneau, The newspaper sent an email to the jewelry store in Mexico asking for an explanation, but the messages went unanswered.
