TISDALE — Over the month of June, the Tisdale RCMP had 27 scam calls reported – with one victim being defrauded out of thousands.
“We had a big month in June with a social insurance number fraud,” said Sgt. Wanita Minty, in her regular report to Tisdale council.
“There have been a couple of folks that have lost their money in this town, elderly folks, and there is not much way of getting them their money back – and it’s substantial amounts.”
In these calls, the fraudster claims that if the victim doesn’t send them money, the RCMP will come and arrest them. In some cases they pretend to be an RCMP officer.
“We actually had two folks standing in our detachment. One lady was foreign, and so she was very, very concerned what was going to happen, it scared her. Just at the same time, a gentleman came in and his phone kept ringing and ringing. I asked if that was them calling, they said, ‘Yes.’”
Minty said she asked if she could answer the phone for them, then identified herself to the fraudster.
“When I got on the phone, I identified myself, and the person on the phone instantly didn’t believe me, was accusing me of being somebody else,” she said.
“So I said, ‘You should be ashamed of yourself, it’s disgusting what you’re doing to people in the community.’ So she started swearing at me and telling me to, ‘Shut up, shut up, shut up’ and hung up on me. So that victim didn’t get any more calls.”
According to Statistics Canada, the majority of victims in the Tisdale area are above the age of 55.
“The one victim has actually been a victim before, so what do you do? They just don’t understand what’s happening. Get family involved and hope somebody can educate them some more.”
Cst. Dustyn Marcy led an anti-fraud presentation in March at Caleb Village, targeted towards elderly residents of the community.
“In the Tisdale area, a lot of it is actually being taken over the phone, so then they’re using the intimidation tactic,” Marcy said. “They’re portraying themselves as the police, they’re using ghosting numbers, they’re calling people from our actual number.”
Marcy recommends people hang up the phone, and give the RCMP detachment number a call at 306-878-3810.
If it’s after hours and the RCMP detachment doesn’t pick up the phone, they weren’t the ones calling. If they were the ones calling, they don’t mind the clarification.
“Another scare tactic is they call and actually say they have a warrant for your arrest. Generally with this people will get scared and actually give in to whatever their demands are.”
Marcy said that if it is a real RCMP officer, they won’t threaten arrest nor ask for money.
“What I always like to tell people is if they have a warrant for their arrest, give us a call. We’ll tell you exactly what it is.”
Minty said the detachment wouldn’t typically call someone to tell them they have a warrant for their arrest.
“We would never ask you for money if we have a warrant for your arrest. Generally we wouldn’t phone you at all, we’d come to your house if we have a warrant for your arrest,” Minty said.
