Scammer
Banned
Winnipeg police hope people will start initiating call traces on their phones if fraudsters call pretending to be relatives seeking money in an emergency.
Police issued a public advisory Sunday, saying an elderly woman recently got a call from a person who pretended to be a grandson in desperate need of cash.
The caller said he needed money to pay for expenses incurred in an accident in Toronto. He was adamant the woman not tell any other family members about his call, a request she ignored.
After checking with other relatives, the woman understood the caller's story to be bogus, police said.
This was just the latest example of the so-called emergency or grandparent scam to be publicly reported, police said. Anyone who receives a similar call should punch the star key (*) followed by the digits 5 and 7 into their telephones the moment the caller hangs up.
Entering these digits will flag the call to telephone service providers and give police an investigative lead.
Police cautioned, however, that these con artists are devious and said people should be wary of any possible ploys to part people from their money.
"In some instances, another person pretending to be a lawyer talks to the victim and provides them with direction on where and to whom they should wire transfer this money," police said in a statement.
More information about the grandparent scam can be found here.
Police issued a public advisory Sunday, saying an elderly woman recently got a call from a person who pretended to be a grandson in desperate need of cash.
The caller said he needed money to pay for expenses incurred in an accident in Toronto. He was adamant the woman not tell any other family members about his call, a request she ignored.
After checking with other relatives, the woman understood the caller's story to be bogus, police said.
This was just the latest example of the so-called emergency or grandparent scam to be publicly reported, police said. Anyone who receives a similar call should punch the star key (*) followed by the digits 5 and 7 into their telephones the moment the caller hangs up.
Entering these digits will flag the call to telephone service providers and give police an investigative lead.
Police cautioned, however, that these con artists are devious and said people should be wary of any possible ploys to part people from their money.
"In some instances, another person pretending to be a lawyer talks to the victim and provides them with direction on where and to whom they should wire transfer this money," police said in a statement.
More information about the grandparent scam can be found here.