Oak Bay Police are warning residents of the danger of giving their personal information out after a series of scams defrauded locals of thousands of dollars.
On Wednesday, December 15th, an Oak Bay resident received a phone call from someone stating they were calling from a courier company.
The caller advised the resident they had received a delivery with some illegal merchandise and to send $20,000 to prevent them from being arrested.
Unfortunately, the resident fell victim to the scam, wiring the requested money through her bank to the Bank of Asia East Hong Kong.
After this, the victim continued to receive phone calls and texts and complied with orders, sending multiple transfers and deleting text threads as requested.
Thankfully, the victim’s parents and landlord intervened, telling the victim to cease all communication with the caller.
On December 16th, Oak Bay Police were informed of another resident falling victim to a scam, this time a “mobile refund” scam.
The victim, who was expecting a $35.00 cheque from Telus in the mail, received a text message from ‘Telus’ informing him to click on a link.
This link then re-routed him to an Interact e-transfer page requiring him to enter his banking information.
After being defrauded of $12,000, the resident realized it was a scam and he contacted his bank to freeze his account.
Both matters are still under investigation.
