In its latest weekly report, Winkler Police Service noted receiving a number of scam complaints, with several seeing the victims losing sums of money.
On September 20th a male reported he fell victim to a crypto-currency scam. According to police, approximately one year ago he began investing in bitcoin, and was advised if he ever wanted to withdraw a large amount of money there would be associated fees.
When the male later requested to withdraw money, he was advised of a large fee required to process the withdrawal. The scammer indicated he would send the male the money to cover the fee, and would then remove the same amount from his crypto account. After this was completed, the male did not receive the money he requested to withdraw, and learned that the money sent to him was from ‘pay now’ loans for which he was now responsible. The male advised his bank of the situation.
Police received a report September 18th of a scam from a female who stated she was conversing with another female on social media who offered to represent her in her immigration process. The complainant proceeded to e-transfer a large sum of money, after which the scammer demanded more money and threatened her with deportation. The complainant declined pursuing charges, and was advised not to send any more money and contact her bank.
The same day, a female reported to police she had received a scam email requesting bitcoin be paid to the scammer, or they would send inappropriate videos to her contacts. The scammer had knowledge of the female’s phone number and address. Police advised the female to monitor her bank statements to ensure the scammers did not obtain any banking information.
You can find the entire report, here.