A resident of B.C.’s Sunshine Coast has lost more than $100,000 to a scammer who impersonated the chief constable of the Vancouver Police Department over the phone. Sunshine Coast RCMP shared a warning about the scam Wednesday. According to the detachment, the victim, a Sechelt resident, received a call that appeared to be from the VPD’s non-emergency phone number. Police said the number had been “spoofed.” They did not specify the date on which the call occurred. The fraudster posed as VPD Chief Const. Steve Rai, and informed the victim that his department was investigating a financial institution on the Sunshine Coast, Mounties said. Later, the victim received a call via WhatsApp from a woman he believed was a representative of the local bank. The caller directed him to make “several email money transfers” that would supposedly “test” the bank’s transaction capabilities as part of the ongoing fraud investigation, according to police. The victim made two transfers, one for $70,000 and the other for $38,000, RCMP said. The Sunshine Coast detachment said police “will never ask members of the public to assist in criminal investigations by transferring money or depositing funds into cryptocurrency accounts” and banks “will never ask customers to provide one-time passwords, two-factor authentication codes or online banking credentials over the phone.” “If you receive a suspicious call, hang up and contact your bank or police using a publicly listed phone number,” police said, in their warning. “Never send money, purchase cryptocurrency, or provide account access based on instructions received during an unsolicited phone call.” Police asked anyone who believes they’ve been targeted in a similar scam to call their bank and their local police.
