The Prince George RCMP says they are still receiving its fair share of calls related to grandparent scams.
In these cases, suspects will often use tactics aimed at convincing victims to send large sums of money to help a family member who seems to be in trouble.
Cpl. Jennifer Cooper told MyPGNow.com they received a rash of calls in February of a new scam where where a relative needed between $5000 and $10,000 to get out of jail and a lawyer would send a bail bondsman to the residence to collect the money.
“That one was clever in that they used some details that kind of seemed relevant to Prince George utilizing details from other high-profile police files to make it sound like it had recency and plausibility. ”
Cooper added scammers are often masking calls with a local area code, triggering people to answer the call.
“Some of the things we see not falling victim to but being confused by is the use of the internet to generate different phone numbers so it looks like it is coming within our local call area but is still in fact a fraudulent phone call.”
If residents do get a call where something seems a little bit off, to reach out to various groups like the police and report it.
“Reach out to other people and see if these details are correct and if you are confident this is a fraud, which it likely is, we encourage you to call the police and let us know about it.”
“Stop and take a minute to see where their family members might be if this could be a plausible scenario for a family member to be in. Some of them say that they are overseas and find out if the person actually travelled. Ask for a callback number so that you can call them back and verify with other family members if that young person’s parents say they know your grandson or nephew.”
Earlier this week, the Richmond RCMP touched on how these types of scams have evolved or become more sophisticated.
In a release, police say the twist is the voice used in the phone call has been altered to sound more authentic using digital manipulation likely with the help of A.I. (Artificial Intelligence).
While seniors are often targeted, anyone can fall victim to these kinds of scams.
Cooper reminds people to never give banking, credit card, or personal information over the phone.
If you do receive a scam call, report it to the detachment or the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
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