Thursday, March 28, 2024

Police investigate multiple cases of online fraud in Oak Bay amounting to $30,000

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Last week two residents of Oak Bay were tricked by online fraudsters.

In the first case of fraudulent activity, Oak Bay Police say they received a call on October 6th at around 4 p.m. 

According to police, the victim reported their bank contacted them after they recognized a fraudulent transfer of $1000 to an out of province branch. 

The victim’s bank account was promptly frozen and no additional funds were lost. 

This file is still under investigation.

The second case of online fraud was called in to Oak Bay Police at around 3 p.m. on October 7th.

The victim reported they received an email from a company claiming to be the Geek Squad. 

Police say the email advised that there was a serious issue with their computer and the fraudulent company told the victim that the issue could be fixed remotely.

Later the same day the victim received a phone call from a man claiming to be a representative for the Geek Squad named Wilson. 

According to police, this male indicated to the victim that they intended on taking a payment of $290 from the victim’s bank account, but during the transfer mistakenly refunded the victim $29,000.

Police say the male then provided the victim with banking information and asked that the victim send them back the $29,000.

The victim went to their bank and attempted to send the money back to the fraudsters. 

However, their bank determined that the banking information the victim was given was for a Cambodian bank.

They recognized the transaction as suspicious so they froze the account. 

This file is under investigation by Oak Bay Police as well.

The two cases of online fraud are not believed to be connected at this time.

If you have information regarding these online, phone Oak Bay Police at

(250) 592-2424 or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

mm
Curtis Blandy
curtis@victoriabuzz.com

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