RCMP speaking to a group of seniors Jan. 28 warned them of circulating online scams, including one that cost a Barrhead man $200,000.
The largest scam that occurred in the Barrhead area involved an online investment fraud that the person got himself into with a loss that totalled $200,000.
“This poor fella fell victim to it. The whole thing was a scam,” said Sgt. Colin Hack of the Barrhead RCMP detachment.
“He went along with the online scam, depositing money into this cryptocurrency account, expecting to get substantial returns of money and it ended up being a $200,000 loss.”
The victim thought he was investing with Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban.
The fraudsters stole Mark Cuban's picture and reputation and set up an online investment website that looked legitimate, but it was not.
The RCMP has a special fraud department to handle these fraud cases, but people keep falling for these fake scenarios.
Hack said it is very tough to track down the scammers and the money lost in these cases has not been retrievable.
Any caller requesting gift cards as payment is a scam and residents should not purchase gift cards to pay to anyone over the phone.
In another case where the victim was advised to buy gift cards as payment resulted in a $20,000 loss.
The victim was contacted and told his social insurance number and passport were compromised.
The scammer said he was a constable with the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA).
The victim was strung on for two weeks being told they were close to prosecuting these fraudsters and make more payments.
An arrangement was made to meet the scammer constable at the RCMP detachment so the investigation could be closed.
The victim called the detachment and found out that the whole thing was a scam and there was no constable with the CRA.
“We receive reports of frauds daily,” said Cpl. Filipe Vicente.
Many are gift card payment scams, the family member in trouble and needs money scam, bank calling scams and CRA government scams.
“We have people who are still buying I-tune cards spending ten, twenty, $50,000,” said Sgt. Colin Hack.
There are scams occurring for small and larger amounts of money, often pressing for payments by gift cards.
Convenience stores have posted signs advising customers not to buy gift cards for people you don’t know personally as payments.
There has been a scam where a hacker calls an area resident using the Barrhead RCMP fraud number on their display.
If you receive a call from the RCMP fraud division, dial the number directly and know you will be reaching the actual RCMP fraud division.
If the redial option where you click on the number that called is used, the caller will reach the hacker according to Vincente.
Town hall attendees shared that they are receiving fraudulent Royal Bank, Bell Canada, and CRA government calls.
They found by questioning the scammer instead of giving information resulted in the scammers hanging up.
The RCMP agreed asking questions was a good approach. Scammers may be hard to stop since with new technology they may have your bank account numbers and personal information making the call seem more real.
The advantages of being able to complete business online has made it simpler for hackers to get information according to Vicente.
A case was reported on Jan. 28 where a resident was called by someone claiming to be her son.
The voice was her son’s, and he needed money because of a vehicle accident where if damages were paid then the son would not be criminally charged.
The woman had doubts and asked for a number to call back and then phoned her son who knew nothing of an accident and was safe.
The RCMP emphasized for residents not to get caught in scammer’s lies and not buy gift cards for a caller on the phone.
