Barbi Wellon knew better than to provide any personal information when she got a call from someone claiming to be from Shoppers Drug Mart on Wednesday morning.
The call came into her home around 10 a.m. and came up as unknown caller on her phone’s display.
Wellon answered and the caller asked if her husband, Mike Wellon, was home. She said no and the caller proceeded to say they had his prescription, that he needed to come and get it and they could send it out for delivery if he couldn’t.
The caller just asked that she verify his birthdate.
“Ah, nope,” she said.
She asked the male caller which Shoppers location he was calling from and the man replied he thought he had the wrong Mike Wellon.
Wellon told him there is only one Mike Wellon in Corner Brook. The man asked for his birthdate again and when she said no he said OK, have him call them and hung up.
Wellon has no doubt it was a scam.
“We only use one pharmacy and that’s not it,” she said.
Wellon never fell for the call and that’s because she’s pretty careful with giving out personal information.
“I mean your birthdate, you wouldn’t think somebody would take your birthdate and then go with it. But they can.”
As for the pharmacy she does deal with, she knows all the phone numbers for it and all the pharmacists by name.
If someone from the pharmacy were to call her they’d address her by name.
Wellon said scam calls are something that are becoming “pretty constant.”
She’s received ones about banking, winning free flights and her computer having a virus.
The person who called spoke perfect English and sounded Canadian, leading her to believe the call didn’t originate from some European or Asian country.
She posted about the call to the Corner Brook Classifieds Facebook page to warn others and also contacted the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary.
RNC Sgt. Kent Kelly confirmed a complaint had been received. Given there was no number associated with it and there only being one compliant he figures it was an isolated incident.
He said the RNC would not be initiating an investigation at the present time, but that officers would be made aware of it in the event there are more calls.
