A Victoria resident is out $6,000 after scammers called him pretending to be representatives.
On January 13th, the man reported to police that he was robbed of $6,000 by fraudsters who used gift cards in a telephone call scam.
He received a call from a man and a woman claiming to be members of his bank’s “fraud sting team”, and was told that his accounts had been compromised.
The suspects then convinced him to take part in an “undercover operation” to catch the person who had compromised his accounts.
The victim was directed to buy $100 gift cards at various retail stores and then provide the gift card information and PIN numbers to the scammers over the phone.
He was then asked to visit his bank’s main branch to be reimbursed the amount he had paid for the gift cards.
Overall, the victim was out $6,000 by the end of the scam.
In the wake of this incident, VicPD are instructing the public to report fraud attempts to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre by calling 1-888-495-8501 or online at their website here.
Anyone who has given out financial or personal information to potential scammers is advised to contact their financial institutions and ensure all unauthorized payments are stopped.
Cases in which money has been lost to fraudsters should be reported to police at (250) 995-7654.
