SCAMS ARE EVERYWHERE
P.E.I. couple duped by telephone fraudsters
A sophisticated scam cost an Island couple tens of thousands of dollars. If not for alert bank employees, the loss could have been considerably higher.
The duped were no dopes. A sophisticated scam cost an Island couple tens of thousands of dollars. If not for alert bank employees, the loss could have been considerably higher.
The Guardian recently reported that Charlottetown police are warning the public of a scam after a person claiming to be an investigator defrauded a city woman of about $25,000.
A person close to the situation, who asked not to be identified, contacted the paper to give more details in hope of providing a cautionary tale.
First, the man noted the scheme was clever enough to actually cost the woman and her partner $38,000, not $25,000.
“It’s a whole new level of invasiveness and craftiness if you like,’’ he said.
“The people involved (in being defrauded) here are highly intelligent professionals with several university degrees and are relatively streetwise.’’
Not wise enough to smell a rat in what this man calls a “very skillfully scripted’’ scam.
A person or persons managed to hack into a bank website and have manipulating control of bank accounts on the website.
The victim received a phone call from a person claiming to be working with the RCMP to investigate a large internal bank fraud.
She was asked to go to the computer, log in to the couple’s online bank account, and move funds.
The hacker was able to make the account appear to be replenished when in fact money was continually being withdrawn.
The action of two bank employees noticing large withdrawals in a short period set off alarm bells. They were able to stop the activity, which likely saved the couple from having their savings wiped out.
The next loss would have been an additional $100,000 if the fraud had not been stopped when it was, according the The Guardian source.
Still, the loss of $38,00 was a considerable hit to the couple.
“It’s huge,’’ he said. “It’s big … it was a painful experience.’’
The caller says he is certain this scam could happen to any online banking service. He wants consumers to be on the alert. Consumers are cautioned to realize that scammers often pretend to be someone you can trust, like a government official or a company you do business with.