A local woman was defrauded thousands of dollars in mere seconds by a telephone scam artist who portrayed himself to be a bank official warning her that an illegal overseas transaction had occurred on her account.
The “classic” telephone scam was one of at least three that occurred in Innisfail last week. However, the one involving the loss of thousands of dollars was the only one that was criminally successful, said Innisfail RCMP Cpl. Jeff Hildebrandt.
He said the criminally motivated call from a man to the local woman occurred at about 2 p.m. on Oct. 23.
Hildebrandt said the caller told the woman he was from her bank and that he was advising her about an illegal transaction on her account that originated from New Zealand. The caller then asked the woman to provide him with personal information, such as account numbers, said Hildebrandt.
He said while the woman was doing so she became suspicious and went to another phone without letting on to the caller and telephoned her bank. While the woman was told by her bank that no type of fraud was occurring with her accounts and that no investigation was taking place, several thousand dollars was being stolen from her account – all in a matter of just seconds, said Hildebrandt.
Hildebrandt said it is estimated that more than $10,000 was stolen from the woman's two bank accounts.
“No bank is ever going to call and ask for personal information. The advice here to the public is that citizens should never give out personal information,” said Hildebrandt, adding that cases like this are problematic for police agencies to investigate. “It is very difficult to pursue criminal charges because in most cases the offender is outside the country where we have no jurisdiction.”
Meanwhile, he said RCMP received a complaint on Oct 22 of a different type of attempted identity theft. He said an individual with criminal intent tried to use a local citizen's identity to apply for a credit card but was unsuccessful.
“About one in 10 of these are successful. When they are not successful they just move on,” said Hildebrandt, adding there was another case of attempted identity theft on Oct. 17 at a rural location east of Innisfail.
He said a woman was checking her mailbox outside her rural home for the newspaper and noticed that mail she wanted picked up by Canada Post had been removed.
The woman called her post office and she confirmed her mail had not been picked up.
“This is common practice for identity thieves looking for cheques and personal information,” said Hildebrandt. “Citizens should try to take reasonable precautions and try to check their mail regularly.”
For more information on identity fraud and what citizens can do to prevent themselves from being victimized, visit the national RCMP website at www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca or the website for the federal government's Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca
