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Winnipeg Police are warning of a recent scam targeting local phone numbers where fraudsters pose of police officers.
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A scammer will call a victim purporting to be a Winnipeg Police officer with a fictitious badge number, police said. Victims will then be told that their financial card has been compromised and often that someone is in custody concerning the fraud.
If using a landline phone, the victim is asked to call 911 or another number (such as a credit card company) to corroborate the claim. However, the scammer will not hang up – resulting in the victim believing they have made a new call, but the scammer is still connected and acts as if they are a different person or transfers the victim to another fraudster.
During the scam, the victim may be instructed not to contact their financial institutions under the guise that the alleged fraud is an inside job. The scammer will then ask the victim to withdraw money, send a form of cryptocurrency or forward gift cards.
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Below are some tips that can be used to help avoid these scams:
– Winnipeg Police Service does not call individuals and demand or request money under any circumstances – this includes payment by Interac e-transfer, bitcoin, prepaid credit cards, or gift cards from retailers such as Apple, Amazon, or others.
– Never give out personal information such as account numbers, social insurance numbers, passwords or other identifying information in response…
