Mission – RCMP are issuing a warning to the public about a complex bank scam that led to a woman losing tens of thousands of dollars.
On May 28, a 68-year-old woman from Mission called police to report that she had lost as much as $60,000 after being targeted by scammers. It started on May 20, when the woman was called by a man who claimed to be a representative of her bank. The man said that her bank cards had been compromised, they were going to issue her new ones, and a courier would come to collect her old cards. A driver from a rideshare company then attended her residence, and she provided the cards to him. An hour later, the fraudulent bank representative called the woman again, advising her that they had since determined that scammers had compromised all of her financial accounts, and recommended that she turn over all of her other debit and credit cards. Again, a courier was sent through a rideshare company to collect the cards. The fraudulent bank representative was also able to obtain other personal information from the woman, including her PIN numbers. A short time later, the woman realized that it was all an elaborate scam, and that tens of thousands of dollars had already been withdrawn from her accounts.
Mission RCMP have since spoken with one of the rideshare drivers, who is cooperating with the investigation, but have not yet been able to locate the second rideshare driver. Investigators were able to determine that the woman’s financial cards were taken to the parking lot of the Home Depot on Henning Drive in Burnaby, where a man wearing a face covering picked them up. The investigation is still ongoing, but police note that even if criminal charges are laid, the chances of recovering the stolen funds are low.
Police caution anyone receiving a phone call from a financial institution to take steps to verify the authenticity of the call before providing any personal information or taking any action. In this case, the scammer even sent a legitimate-looking email, which included a link the woman clicked on, leading her to call who she thought was her actual bank, when in fact it was just a hyperlink to the scammer’s phone line. If you get a phone call from someone asking for personal information, obtain the caller’s name and identifying information, then call a known-number for that company (or independently verify it through Google), and ask to be connected to the person that called you. Never provide your PIN number or passwords to anyone. If you are targeted by a scammer but do not lose any money or provide any personal information, notify the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre about the details of the scam (1-888-495-8501). If you have lost money or provided your personal details before realizing it was a scam, notify your local police.
