Vancouver police have issued a warning to the public after a woman was defrauded of $6,000 and "arrested" by scammers posing as Canada Revenue Agency employees and police officers.
According to a police statement, a 58-year-old woman received a call from someone claiming to be from the CRA at around 4 p.m. on Wednesday.
The caller told the victim there was a warrant out for her arrest in connection with tax money she owed. Police say she was then connected to another fraudster posing as a Mountie who "was able to manipulate the woman into providing personal information, including her location at the time."
Two men then showed up to the victim's location wearing what appeared to be RCMP uniforms. After allegedly handcuffing her and putting her in the back seat of a car, the scammers convinced her to withdraw $6,000 from a bank in the area of Cambie Street and West King Edward Avenue. They then drove her to a Bitcoin machine in Surrey to deposit the funds.
"Once the transaction was complete, the suspects left the area without the victim," police said.
One of the suspects is described as a white man in his 30s. He is about 5-11 with an average build, light brown hair and a full, trimmed bear.
The other suspect is also described as a white man. He is between 25 and 27 years with short brown hair and a clean-shaven face.
According to investigators, both suspects were wearing what appeared to be RCMP T-shirts and blue pants with yellow stripes down the sides.
"Both were wearing police duty belts, including what appeared to be firearms," the statement read.
The two men were driving a black, older-model four-door sedan with worn out seats.
“This incident has taken the CRA scam to a new level. Taking physical control of someone like this can be considered kidnapping,” Const. Jason Doucette said in the release. “We are reminding people to hang up on anyone claiming to be from the CRA. If you want to double check, call the agency at a publicly available number.”
The VPD is once again warning the public that a legitimate call from the CRA would never include threats of arrest, police involvement or transactions in digital currencies such as Bitcoin or gift cards.
Mounties in Surrey issued their own statement Thursday saying that a member of the community was defrauded out of $18,000 in a similar scam.
In this case, the RCMP said the victim was also contacted by fraudsters who claimed to be CRA "officers" and told they owned a large sum of money.
"The men ordered the victim to exchange Canadian Currency into Bitcoins and then transfer that currency to them," the release said. "Out of fear of being arrested, the victim transferred the money."
The victim in this case did not meet the suspects in person.
It's unclear if or how the two incidents might be connected.
Anyone with information about the Vancouver scam is asked to contact the VPD's Major Crimes Section at 604-717-2541 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).
