**** RCMP Media Release
Victoria County business notify police in solicitation scam
Victoria County RCMP was recently contacted by a local business with concerns that customers may be victims of a scam.
On June 16 and again on July 25, Victoria County RCMP was contacted by employees at a local business advising of customers who had bought excessive amounts of gift cards and may be victims of scams. On each occasion, officers attended the business and spoke with the customers, determining they had been contacted by scammers.
The first customer had been contacted by phone and told they must purchase gift cards in order to help some family members in another county. The victim purchased the gift cars and provided the card numbers to the scammers. Unfortunately, the victim was defrauded before the employee and police could intervene, however, the intervention did stop the victim from purchasing and providing further gift cards.
The second customer shared that they received a message on social media, from an unknown user to buy gift cards in exchange for cash. Police were able to convince the victim that they were being scammed and they did not become a victim.
Victoria County RCMP would like to thank the business employees for their quick thinking and for contacting police.
These scams can be very convincing as the offender can be very articulate and believable, this combined with a caller ID or spoofed email address it might appear they are associated to legitimate businesses or institutions. Police are seeing similar scams in the province and want to remind the public that any request for payment in gift cards is likely a scam.
If in doubt, hang up or delete and not continue communication. Anyone who suspects they have been targeted in a phone or computer scam is encouraged to contact their local police, and also the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 or online at http://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/index-eng.htm.
