A New Westminster senior was recently tricked out of a large sum of cash, after she thought she was handing it over to a police officer to pay for her grandson’s bail.
The woman told police she received a call from someone who appeared to be her grandson on Tuesday evening (Dec. 13). He started the call with “Hey grandma!” and proceeded to explain that he had been arrested for having large amounts of cannabis in his vehicle and needed bail money.
The woman said another person then got on the line who claimed to be a police officer. They told the senior her grandson would be freed if she put the bail money in an envelope and handed it over to a person who would be meeting the senior at her home.
“The fraudster addressed this woman’s suspicions and assured her it was not a scam as her grandson was the one that called her,” the New Westminster Police Department said in a news release.
So, the senior agreed to the conditions and handed over the cash when someone showed up at her home shortly after. It wasn’t until later that night that she realized she may have been scammed and decided to call the police.
The person who came to collect the cash is described as a woman in her early 20s with light purple wavy shoulder length hair, a faded charcoal sweatshirt, patterned leggings and pink crocs. She’s believed to be about 5’4” in height.
“It is despicable that criminals are using family bonds to manipulate seniors out of thousands of dollars. We’re asking people to speak to friends and family about this incident, and to share with them the techniques the fraudsters used. Knowledge is power and we need more people to know about the scams,” Media Relations Officer Sgt. Justine Thom said.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the department at 604-525-5411.
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