An 82-year-old West Vancouver man was recently bilked out of $5,000 in the latest iteration of a bail money scam that has been targeting seniors around the Lower Mainland.
The West Vancouver Police Department said in a news release that the victim received a call on Thursday, Jan. 20, from a man who claimed to be his grandson.
The scammer claimed that he had been arrested and needed bail money, handing the phone over to another man who claimed to be the grandson’s lawyer, according to the WVPD.
“The fraudsters were able to convince the victim to withdraw $5000,” police said in their release.
“The victim then received another phone call stating that someone would attend his residence to collect the money. Within minutes, a suspect showed up at the victim’s door and took the cash.”
It’s the fourth such incident police in Metro Vancouver have reported this month.
On Jan. 14, the Vancouver Police Department reported two instances of residents in their 70s receiving calls from scammers claiming a relative was in trouble and needed a large sum of money for bail.
In each case, someone met the victim at their door to collect the funds.
Similarly, the Delta Police Department announced last week that it had arrested a 22-year-old woman from Quebec in connection to a scam that defrauded a local grandmother out of $10,000.
In that instance, the scammers called back the day after getting away with the $10,000, this time demanding $25,000. The…
