Ontario Provincial Police are warning residents of a scam circulating the Niagara region.
The new scams are known as Emergency-Grandparent scams, and they happen when a senior citizen answers the phone from someone impersonating their grandchildren. Sergeant John Armit, who also works with the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre, says often times they claim to be in trouble with the police.
The scammer in this scenario will arrange for a courier to come to the victim’s home to collect the money. He says the best way to protect yourself would be to verify the information yourself.
Armit says that these types of scams typically target landlines, as they know most of the time that’s what seniors would be using. He says it’s common for a cluster of complaints from the same area, as they recently saw a number of emergency-grandparent scams in Western Canada.
From January 1 to February 16, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre has received reports totalling over $491,000 in victim losses associated to the Emergency-Grandparent scams.
(Written by: Matt Latour)
