Wellington County OPP officials are warning residents about a new “bank investigator” scam.
Police say the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) has received “increased reporting” from victims misled by scammers posing as representatives of financial institutions, law enforcement or other officials.
While there are variations of the scheme, scammers will generally say there is a suspicious charge on the victim’s credit card.
They may call land lines in the early morning and claim the charge was completed in the middle of the night – in the form of an online purchase, in-store transaction or overseas transfer.
The scammer then asks for the victim’s credit card to cancel the transaction.
In some cases, victims are transferred to an alleged investigator, police say. More commonly, they are requested to immediately call the number on the back of their credit card to verify the validity of the initial call.
“When victims believe they have hung up, the original caller, not having actually disconnected, redirects the victims to imposters,” police stated in a press release.
“At this time, the victims are persuaded to transfer funds to an external bank account to safeguard their funds until the ‘investigation’ is complete.”
In other cases, scammers will gain access to the victim’s computer and show them a fraudulent transaction on their online banking account.
“The scammers indicate they want the victims’ help … and will send the victim a deposit of funds, which the complainant will then send overseas as part of the ‘investigation,’” police stated.
“When the deposit appears in the victim’s account the complainant sends the money to help in the ongoing investigation. It is not until the transfers are completed that the victim realizes funds were never deposited into their account.”
Warning signs
Calls to land lines from scammers in the “bank investigator” scam tend to happen in the early morning, often when a victim is still sleeping and not yet alert.
Financial institutions will never request transferring funds to an external account for security reasons, police say.
They suggest residents not assume phone numbers appearing on call display are accurate, as “call-spoofing technology is easily available.”
People should never provide remote access to their computer to unknown callers.
Suspected victims of fraud can contact the CAFC at 1-888-495-8501 or report online at www.antifraudcentre.ca.
