Surrey RCMP is currently investigating a scam that appeared earlier this year and is still victimizing persons throughout the Lower Mainland.
On December 4th, 2017 a family was scammed out of several thousands of dollars by an intricate fraud. A man was contacted by someone posing as a delivery company and asked to meet the driver at a public location when their home address couldn’t be found.
Shortly afterwards the man’s wife was contacted by what appeared to be her husband’s cell phone using a spoofing technique. The caller told the victim that her husband was in custody and would require a cash deposit through a bitcoin ATM to secure his release. After the deposit was made the ruse was discovered and police were called.
Surrey RCMP’s General Investigation Unit is leading this investigation. Similar types of frauds have been occurring across the Lower Mainland as scammers become more and more creative (see previous release).
Police will never ask you for money either in bills, electronically, or using gift cards, says Corporal Scotty Schumann. Typical victims include elderly persons and people new to Canada not familiar with how government agencies operate. If you know someone in this demographic, please educate them about this and other scams to help protect them from being victimized.
For more information on scam and fraud prevention please visit the Surrey RCMP’s website. If you are a victim of fraud, please contact your local police and report it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre online.
Anyone with more information is asked to contact the Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502 and quote file #2017-172966.
If you wish to make an anonymous report please contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or www.solvecrime.ca.
