An alert bank teller stopped a victim from losing even more money after scammers took almost $15,000 from an Oak Bay resident.
The resident received a call from someone claiming to be a Visa representative indicating there had been unauthorized charges on their credit card. The representative asked the resident to confirm the last four digits of their card number and then transferred the victim to the “fraud department,” according to a statement from the Oak Bay Police Department.
The victim was then asked to assist with an internal investigation. After receiving a practised, believable story from the fraudsters, the victim agreed to help and was coached over the phone. The resident was directed to withdraw $5,000 from their bank and deposit it into a Bitcoin machine. The fraudsters then convinced the victim to go to a second location to withdraw $7,000 and deposit it into another machine.
The next day, the resident was contacted again and directed to withdraw another $5,000 to deposit into another machine. However, the victim was only able to deposit $2,700 of that before encountering some problems with the machine.
The fraudsters then convinced the victim to go back to their bank and withdraw an additional $5,000. While at the bank, a teller noticed the recent activity and alerted the resident they were likely being scammed.
In total, the victim lost $14,700 before reporting the crime to the Oak Bay Police Department on July 24.
The case is still under investigation but the department warned the public that financial institutions, credit card companies and others such as BC Hydro and the CRA will not request customers make payments in Bitcoin or any type of gift card. Any agency investigating internal fraud will not ask members of the public to assist.
Police advise anyone who gets a call like this to hang up and to contact their financial institution or service provider independently and not on the number provided or that may pop up on the computer.
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