A retired Windsor firefighter is joining Windsor police in warning residents about a gift card scam after falling victim to one this past weekend.
Bill McLeese said everything started when his computer screen froze Saturday, prompting him to call who he thought was technical support.
“They did a good job. They sucked me right in,” the former fire captain said. “And I thought I was smarter than that but they sucked me right in.”
McLeese explained the phoney support call included a fraudulent bank representative, with McLeese sharing personal information he assumed to be secure.
“Everything seemed perfectly fine,” he said.
That was until McLeese learned he was being accused of $8,450 in charges to illegal pornographic websites in Europe, with the only solution involving him buying various gift cards.
McLeese said he went to various stores in Windsor to purchase the equivalent amount required on a variety of cards, terrified of what those charges could mean to him legally.
“I got two great-granddaughters and I got a great-grandson coming in August and I don’t need that,” McLeese said. “I need my grandkids and if I’m charged with that, to me with child porn, you’re guilty until proven innocent. It’s not innocent until proven guilty.”
The 76-year-old told CTV News it wasn’t until that evening his daughter raised suspicion her father fell victim to a scam.
“So I’m out, by the time everything was totaled, it works…
