A 68-year-old Mission woman lost almost $60,000 in a recent bank scam.
Mission RCMP said in a news release on Tuesday (June 17) that the scam started on May 20 when a man called the woman claiming to be a representative of her bank.
The caller claimed the woman’s bank cards were compromised and they were going to issue new ones. A courier would come to collect the old cards, and she provided them to an Uber driver who came to her residence, according to police.
RCMP said the fraudster called the woman an hour later, saying scammers had compromised all of her financial accounts, and recommended that she turn over all of her other debit and credit cards. The scammer also obtained other personal information, including PINs, from the woman.
Another courier collected the cards via Uber, police say.
“A short time later, the woman realized that it was all an elaborate scam, and that tens of thousands of dollars had already been withdrawn from her accounts,” Mission RCMP said.
Mounties say the first Uber driver is cooperating with the investigation, but haven’t been in contact with the second driver.
“Investigators were able to determine that the woman’s financial cards were taken to the parking lot of the Home Depot on Henning Drive in Burnaby, where a man wearing a face covering picked them up,” the detachment said.
While an investigation is ongoing, RCMP say the chances of recovering the stolen funds are low, even if criminal charges are laid.
“Police caution anyone receiving a phone call from a financial institution to take steps to verify the authenticity of the call before providing any personal information or taking any action. In this case, the scammer even sent a legitimate-looking email, which included a link the woman clicked on, leading her to call who she thought was her actual bank, when in fact it was just a hyperlink to the scammer’s phone line,” RCMP said.
The detachment advises those who receive phone calls from someone asking for personal information to call a known number for the company and ask to be connected to the person who called.
“Never provide your PIN number or passwords to anyone. If you are targeted by a scammer but do not lose any money or provide any personal information, notify the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre about the details of the scam (1-888-495-8501). If you have lost money or provided your personal details before realizing it was a scam, notify your local police,” RCMP said.
