A Sault woman is upset after her brother was forced to deliver payment at his front door to a man claiming to be a beer delivery driver — even though he didn’t order beer. Her brother is on the autism spectrum. “I’m angry,” Maia Stevenson said, speaking to SooToday on Monday. “His first reaction was to say, ‘Are you sure you have the right address?’ But the delivery guy insisted it was an order from his address and he had to pay for it.” The driver requested payment of $46.67. “My brother, who has autism, doesn’t drink and he certainly didn’t order beer,” Stevenson said. “When my brother asked the man and said there must be some mistake, the man insisted on paying. My brother was confused and not sure how to handle the situation. Given the stranger’s insistence that the order was for that address and his insistence that someone pay, my brother gave in and paid the amount by credit card.” It wasn’t even a full case of beer. The box was open, crumpled and half full of Budweiser cans. Stevenson is concerned that her brother – and possibly others – were targeted by someone who falsely claimed to work for a local beer delivery company. “That worries me,” Stevenson said. “I think there’s definitely a segment of the population that’s more vulnerable to this than others. For some, it is an unfamiliar situation for them to have a delivery man show up with a package. A lot of people don’t order things. They don’t know what it’s like. They may feel obligated to pay.” The incident happened on the afternoon of Friday, August 19. Stevenson said Sault Ste. Police were notified. A spokesperson for the beer delivery company told SooToday that efforts are underway to contact the driver who made the delivery. “It’s being looked into,” the spokesman said. SooToday is not naming the company at this time because it is unclear if the person who targeted Stevenson’s brother actually worked for the company or pretended to be a driver to pull off a scam. Stevenson made arrangements to put a hold on her brother’s credit card to prevent fraudulent charges. The driver, described by Stevenson’s brother as a Caucasian male, was reportedly driving a silver and white car with no license plates. Stevenson urges all vulnerable people to seek advice on such matters and to simply discard any deliveries they have not ordered. “There’s no way my brother is going to fall for this again,” he said. “He takes this payment of intimidation very seriously.”
