A pair of elderly victims in North Perth have lost thousands of dollars to an over-the-phone grandparent scam.
Both of the victims recently received a scam call from an alleged family member who claimed they were in jail and needed bail money.
An alleged "lawyer" on the call notified the victims that a "bondsman" would come by their homes to collect the money. Both of the victims had a person of interest come to their homes, where they turned over cash to the fraudster.
The victims lost $5,000 and $5,500, respectively. Both victims described the suspect who came to their homes as a black male standing between 5'5" and 5'10", between 20 and 50-years-old and wearing all black including a black toque.
The Perth County OPP encourages the public to stay alert and educated to reduce the risk of being a victim of fraud. Be cautious if you receive any sort of emergency phone call. In this type of emergency call, the "grandchild" or "child" on the phone might state they have broken their nose in the collision, and that is why their voice sounds different. Please share this information with your loved ones to help protect them from becoming a victim.
If you receive an unsolicited phone call or message, asking for personal information (name, birthday, address, phone number, bank information, SIN number) or payment via gift cards or cryptocurrency, do not provide the information and hang-up the phone and block the phone number. Legitimate organizations do not receive payments by gift cards of any type.
Warning signs to look out for when receiving unsolicited messages include: Emails, text-messages or phone calls sent at odd times of the night, creating a false sense of urgency, spelling errors, lack of punctuation or capitals in sentences, automated messages, random links or attachments, and generic business or company names.
Should you wish to remain anonymous you can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or leave an anonymous online message at www.P3tips.com where you may be eligible to receive a cash reward of up to $2,000.