VicPD are warning the public of a phone scam involving a message about social insurance numbers after a Victoria woman was defrauded of $6,000.
Officers were contacted by the woman on August 12 to report she had been the victim of a fraud.
She said she received a call from a toll-free phone number with an automated message claiming her social insurance number (SIN) had been compromised.
The message prompted her to press a button to speak with a police officer.
When she did so, she was put through to a man who impersonated a RCMP officer and claimed that due to COVID-19 police could not meet her in person.
The woman was then transferred to another scammer who impersonated a VicPD officer. This second individual provided the victim with fake badge numbers.
The VicPD impersonator told the victim her identification had been stolen and her SIN had been compromised.
The woman was instructed to withdraw money from her bank accounts and deposit it into a bitcoin machine, which they claimed would transfer the money to the federal government.
The scammer said the federal government would confirm a new social insurance number for the victim and send the money back.
The victim was persuaded to deposit $6,000 into a bitcoin machine.
VicPD says that fraudsters like this are convincing and will “spoof” legitimate telephone numbers like the Canada Revenue Agency and police departments including VicPD.
Scammers often persuade victims to not hang up or leave the phone call using aggressive tactics.
Police will never demand cash to be paid to resolve an incident, nor request funds transferred through bitcoin.
VicPD advises that if you are contacted by someone claiming to be an officer who asks you for money that you simply hang up.
However, in the event that you do give out personal information or money, police say you should immediately contact your financial institution to stop all unauthorized payments.
Inform your financial institution about the fraud, change your passwords and access information to your accounts.
You should also contact the VicPD non-emergency number at 250-995-7654 to report the incident.
If you receive a call but do not give out money or personal information, it is not necessary to report the incident to police.
However, you can reach out to the Canadian Anti-fraud Centre by calling 1-888-495-8501 or by visiting their website online.
VicPD have more information on fraud and how to protect yourself at vicpd.ca/fraud
