Nanaimo RCMP are issuing a warning to the public about bank fraud after two victims were scammed out of a total of $95,000.
The incidents happened in the last month, according to an RCMP press release, to a man in his 40s and a woman in her 50s.
The first victim reported that she was scammed out of $5,000 after receiving a call from someone who claimed to be working with the RBC's fraud department and the caller ID on her phone indicated the a call was from RBC. The second victim told police the same story, but unfortunately was scammed out of almost $90,000.
Both victims were told that their respective bank accounts had been compromised and in order to prevent fraudsters from accessing their funds they needed to transfer money from one account to another. The victims supplied personal banking information, and were then instructed on how to send an e-transfer to themselves or to a payee.
In both cases the fraudster used call spoofing to make the victims think the phone calls were legitimate.
“Once fraudsters have your trust, the scam begins to fall into place and it’s not long before your money is flowing into their dirty hands,” said reserve Const. Gary O’Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesperson. “In both situations the victims thought they were speaking with bank officials and, therefore, agreed to turn over personal banking information to the fraudster. This essentially gave the scammer access to their accounts and their money."
Police advise that financial institutions will never request personal banking information over the phone, ask for information about debit and credit cards, or ask for access to a customer’s computer or bank account passwords. People should never assume the phone number on call displays are legitimate. Lastly, if anyone receives a call from someone claiming to work for a financial institution, they should tell the caller they will call them back and then call back using the phone number on the back of the bank-issued debit or credit card.
To learn more about frauds, visit the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at http://antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca.
