Burlington area fraud victims lose close to $20,000 to scam artists - double check requests fr funds no matter how convincing the story.

Crime 100By Staff

October 2, 2015

BURLINGTON, ON

The Halton Regional Police Service have received three separate complaints from victims of a variant of a common phone fraud known as the “Grandparent Scam”. All three victims were residents of the City of Burlington and all three had adult children who were the subject of the scam.

The fraudsters are calling un-suspecting victims and claiming to represent the victims son/daughter who has been involved in an accident and needs financial assistance in order to be released following an arrest.

The fraudsters will then ask the victim to wire money to another third party usually out of the country in order to effect the release of their son or daughter.

In the latest rash of calls the suspects have been asking for money to be wired to Lebanon and combined the victims have wired a little under $20,000 dollars overseas. Once the suspects find a victim who is willing they will continue to call and ask for more money for various other delays in the court process.

The Halton Police Fraud Unit is warning the public of these ongoing frauds and advising that before doing anything to contact the involved family member and confirm they are OK.

Prevention is the biggest tool at the disposal of the police in these circumstance and once the money has been wired overseas it is gone for good and following the trail to a suspect is almost never successful. Any of the information provided during the phone call or for the purposes of the financial transaction is fake and subsequent investigation only takes police to a dead end.

Also still prevalent in the GTA area is the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) phone scam. Police again want to warn members of the public that the CRA will never solicit money owing on an account over the phone. There are numerous administrative stages that the CRA will enter into first before making any demands for payment of fines or accounts and anyone who receives a phone call claiming to be from the CRA as their first contact on a delinquent account should independently contact the CRA to confirm the information.

With today’s technology the suspects could be working from anywhere in the world and are very skillful in hiding their true identity and location. If you are unsure, always make independent contact with the agency the suspects claim to be calling from and confirm the information you are provided.

Return to the Front page
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

2 comments to Burlington area fraud victims lose close to $20,000 to scam artists – double check requests fr funds no matter how convincing the story.

  • Steve

    John, I do believe phone numbers can be spoofed, and most of the perpetrators of these types of scams operate from outside our country overseas. It’s sad to see that our older citizens, most who have dementia of some sort, fall prey to these dirt-bags. I can’t imagine anyone else falling for this.

  • John Stifler

    These phone scammers are really persistent. I think they can’t be stopped. They always come whatever we have done to stop them. I even can find reports about them just yesterday filed at https://www.whycall.me/613-665-0500.html. I hope law enforcement can find and arrest them all. Eliminate them from our country.