Scammer targets victim of bus beheading

Published: Aug. 19, 2008 at 3:20 PM
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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- A scam artist claiming to be the sister of a Canadian man beheaded on a Greyhound bus last month used Facebook to collect money, a site user said.

One Facebook site dedicated to the memory of Tim McLean, 22, was launched by Ron Schinners of Vancouver. He told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. a woman contacted him saying she was McLean's sister, Amanda. She said the family was having financial problems dealing with funeral expenses, so he set up a PayPal account to collect donations for the family.

However, McLean's real sister, now Amanda Corrigan visited the site and told Schinners the family wasn't receiving anything, the CBC report said. He shut down the PayPal account and told the CBC he feels "really stupid" about being duped.

Neither PayPal nor Royal Canadian Mounted Police officials would comment, the report said.

Vince Li, 40, was charged with second-degree murder, and made a third court appearance Tuesday. The judge ordered a psychiatric assessment to determine whether he is fit to stand trial and he was assigned a legal aid lawyer. Li is on 24-hour suicide watch.


© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



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