Police in the North Okanagan are warning residents following the latest scam making its rounds in the region.
According to police, two residents were tricked out of thousands of dollars recently. The victims were scammed into purchasing numerous gift cards by someone who was claiming to be an RCMP officer.
In both cases, the outgoing call number had been changed to display the Armstrong and Enderby non-emergency RCMP phone numbers. The fraudster went as far as providing a fake name, rank and badge number.
"Police officers will never request monetary payments, ask for gift cards, or attempt to solicit any financial information over the telephone, or email," said Cst. Chris Terleski.
"If someone contacts you, identifies as a police officer, and asks for any of these things or threatens you in any way, end the call immediately. If the person keeps pressuring you or threatens you, it’s not legitimate and you are doing the right thing by hanging up."
When answering a phone, always be aware of potential scams. To avoid these, don't give out personal information over the phone, don't assume someone is an officer just because they know your name and address and never pay a stranger in cryptocurrency or gift cards.
If you believe you're the victim of a scam, click here.
If you get value from KelownaNow and believe local independent media is important to our community we ask that you please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter.
If you appreciate what we do, we ask that you consider supporting our local independent news platform.
