Burnaby RCMP are once again warning the public and businesses about a gift card extortion scam that unfortunately saw one young woman lose thousands of dollars.
Burnaby’s Economic Crime Unit first became aware of the incident after the woman reported it to police June 29.
The 22-year-old is new to the country and was unfamiliar with how Canadian tax laws work. She received a call from someone claiming to be from the Canada Revenue Agency informing her she owed money and that she would have to pay the debt in the form of iTunes gift cards or risk being thrown in jail and deported.
Investigators say she purchased thousands of dollars in iTunes gift cards, which were turned over to the suspects via SnapChat, with the victim losing all but $100 because the card numbers were redeemed. At the scammer’s urging, the victim purchased a further $1,000 in gift cards, this time from Shopper’s Drug Mart. Fortunately, those gift cards were not redeemed and will be refunded to the victim.
This was a very unfortunate incident for this young lady, says Chief Superintendent Stephan Drolet, Officer in Charge of Burnaby detachment. We want to warn the public, and especially businesses, that if you see people purchasing large volumes of gift cards, to please take a moment and ask them about it. Ask them if this is a request allegedly coming from the Canada Revenue Agency and if it is, please advise them to call police.
Investigators say this was the second such incident reported to Burnaby RCMP in the past week and it’s an extortion fraud that is growing around the country.
