On July 9 at 8:23 p.m., 100 Mile House RCMP received a report from a local elderly person that they had been contacted by the Ontario police and the RCMP in regards to money being owed due to someone making false accounts using their unemployment card, according to Staff Sgt. Svend Nielsen. The callers indicated that they were going to be arrested if they didn’t provide financial restitution for the illegal use of their card right away.
The callers were very convincing to the complainant and they were very frightened of their threats to arrest them, so the complainant sent $7,000 Canadian funds through Google Pay online, according to Nielsen.
“Canadian police will never phone you at home and demand you send funds through a secondary pay source like Google Pay or iTunes pre-paid cards. RCMP will not collect funds from a person directly. Please do not send money to these criminals. If you receive a call from someone who identifies themselves as a police officer and demands you send them money, this is a scam and not police. Please hang up, contact a family member for help and then reach out to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre online and follow their advice under ‘What to do if you’re a victim’ or call 1-888-495-8501. You can also contact the local Police to report the incident and to get further advice.”
100 Mile House RCMP is continuing to support the local person with attempts to get their funds back, but this is normally extremely challenging, if not impossible, due to the nature of the scam. If you have an elderly relative or friend, please talk with them about these ongoing scams and have them check in with you before they do anything further after being contacted. If you notice an elderly friend appearing stressed, ask them what is going on and what is causing them stress. It is okay to check-in. Sometimes that little check-in can help a person immensely, he says.
