‘It feels violating’: St. Albert residents warn of potential lost cell phone scams

Two St. Albert women say they were targeted by a potential scam where people claim their lost phone is inside your house.

Two St. Albert women are warning the community to stay vigilant after separate encounters with potential scammers who claimed they had lost their phones inside the women’s houses.

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On Monday, St. Albert RCMP sent out a release warning the public of a lost cell phone scam based on two incidents from the weekend.

Kendyl Weir was a homeowner in one of those incidents.

Weir told CTV News Edmonton in an interview on Wednesday that she was out with her family on Saturday morning when she was bombarded by notifications on her doorbell camera.

Three people, who she believes were women, were at her door. They would move from her door to the front lawn, to their car and back.

“Immediately, I got this overwhelming, bad feeling,” Weir said.

Weir and her husband asked them over the doorbell’s camera what they were doing, which is when Weir said the group broke into expletives and told Weir that she had their phone.

They continued to insist that they had tracked the phone to her home, even when Weir told them she didn’t have anyone’s phone.

“So then I just switched and I said, ‘You have five seconds to get off my property or I’m going to call 911,’ and she said, ‘Go ahead, call them, I’ll come in and get my phone back,’” Weir said.

Weir did call 911, and the three people were stopped by police – although no charges have been laid.

“It feels violating … [I’m] thankful we weren’t home. I don’t know what that would have looked like had we been home,” Weir said.

On Sunday afternoon, another St. Albert woman was home during a similar situation – this time, with a man who claimed he had left his phone at a car show and was tracking it to this woman’s house.

She is not being identified for safety reasons but told CTV News Edmonton that she was woken up from a nap by his persistent doorbell ringing and initially spoke to him through the camera.

“He looked a little bit shady, so I decided to get up and go to my front window … And that’s when I saw there were two other individuals at the bottom of my driveway,” she said.

The man, she said, then approached her at the window and began yelling at her. That’s when she called neighbours, and then the police. She also noted that the man appeared to have what she thought was a knife.

“I was thankful that my neighbour came out. At this point, I didn’t know or I didn’t clue in that something wrong was happening,” she said.

While the people in both incidents were identified, none were charged.

A release from local RCMP noted that a lost cell phone scam can vary slightly, anywhere from these women’s experiences to a note being left outside the home.

“This is a way for the scammers to gain access to your residence and case the house for a future crime/theft, or they may steal items in your home while ‘looking’ for your cell phone,” the release said.

CTV News Edmonton reached out for comment from RCMP, who said although no charges were laid, they wanted to get ahead of the scam and “proactively sent out a media release informing the community of the scam, so they are aware, hopefully preventing any future victims.”

Victims of fraud or scam or those who would like more information on scams in Canada can visit the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre online.

Any anonymous tips can be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online.

In the meantime, both women are staying alert and urging others to get cameras and be aware of bad intentions.

“Stay vigilant, and don’t open the door thinking everybody’s friendly and here to do something nice for you,” Weir said.

“Because that’s not what that was.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson