Scam Central - Castlegar police warn of recent con routines
By Castlegar Source
Aside from the counterfeit money detailed in a separate Source article, police are warning about scams targeting both retailers and individuals in the community.
According to Castlegar RCMP Cpl. Dan Pollock, a local business got taken in Nov. 6, when a man came in wanting to return some merchandise.
“This person knew a lot about the store and the staff, and was able to build rapport and trust (thus convincing the employee to provide a refund without a receipt),” he said.
Pollock said later conversations among staff revealed that the merchandise the suspect returned had, in fact, been stolen at an earlier date.
“It’s a scam that happens all over the place,” Pollock said, adding the suspect is described as a white male, in his 40s, about six feet tall and with a thick build. He was wearing a toque at the time, so his hair colour is unknown.
On an individual level, Pollock said a local resident received a letter, “telling him that he inherited over 27 million dollars from a distant relative.
“The letter asked for personal information to be forwarded so that this money could be sent,” Pollock said. “Fortunately, this letter was recognized as ‘too good to be true’, and was reported to police.”
He went on to say that schemes like these are frequent and the public can educate themselves on fraud trends on the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre website www.antifraudcentre.ca.
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