B.C. woman defrauded of $80K in crypto scam, RCMP say

Mounties are warning the public after a woman in B.C.'s Interior lost tens of thousands of dollars after falling victim to a crypto scam.

In a news release, Salmon Arm RCMP said the woman made a report on Dec. 14, after she had clicked on a cryptocurrency investing ad on Google that requested her name, email address and phone number.

"The woman was then contacted by a person that claimed to be a senior crypto investing agent, who groomed the woman through conversation on WhatsApp into transferring $80,000 to their website," Mounties said in the release. "The money appeared to be transferred to a cryptocurrency exchange, converted into Bitcoin, and then transferred to the fraudster."

Mounties said the complainant added that she gave the investing agent access to her computer remotely, which then allowed the fraudster to access her personal information.

The file remains under investigation.

Salmon Arm RCMP also reported another case of fraud that occurred on Dec. 18, which resulted in a store employee being scammed out of nearly $2,000.

In that case, the employee reported that he received a phone call from someone claiming to be from the company's head office.

"The fraudster claimed that the store manager had ordered supplies, but the payment was declined," Mounties said, adding that the scammer knew the store manager's name and some other intricacies about the brand.

Mounties said the scammer then requested that the employee make a payment and that he would later be reimbursed.

The employee followed through by transferring $1,800 to what appeared to be a Mexican bank account, but when he followed up with the store manager he discovered there was no order.

"Salmon Arm RCMP do not recommend sending e-transfers or money transfers to anyone you don't know," Mounties said. "Once an e-transfer is accepted by the recipient, it cannot be reversed."