MHPS Sgt. Darlene Garrecht of the Community Safety Unit says four Hatters have lost more than $20,000 via telephone scams over the past four weeks. (Photo Courtesy of Bob Schneider.)

By Chris Brown

Four victims, more than $20,000

Medicine Hat police warn of phone scam

Jul 7, 2020 | 5:13 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – A familiar scam is making the rounds, with a bit of a twist, and it has cost four Medicine Hat residents more than $20,000 between them.

Sgt. Darlene Garrecht of the Medicine Hat Police Service Community Safety Unit says they’ve seen a huge increase in calls over the past month from Hatters reporting calls from people posing as agents from Canada Revenue Agency or as police officers.

The fraudsters tell the victims their social insurance number has been compromised and used in fraudulent activity, money is owed and a warrant has been issued for their arrest.

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They’re instructed to withdraw money from their bank account and deposit the money at one of three Bitcoin machines in the city.

“So when they’re on the phone with them and they receive their cash they will receive a QR code from the person on the other end of the phone and what they do is they take this code to the bitcoin machine they scan it and then they deposit their money in it,” Garrecht explains.

The QR code and a warning sticker on a Bitcoin machine can be seen below.

In other cases, people are told to buy Google Play cards, scratch the back to reveal the pin code and provide that to the scammer. Then they have that money.

“No legitimate organizations are going to demand you deposit money through the mail, through bitcoin or through Google Play,” says Garrecht. “If you’re not sure, before you do anything, call us.”

Most of the scammers on the phone are males, but female voices are occasionally on the other end of the line as well. No matter who it is, Garrecht says the fraudsters are very smooth and convincing, and the four recent victims range in age from a teenager to someone in their 60s.

Many of the calls come from “spoofed” Alberta phone numbers, said Garrecht, which adds to the seeming legitimacy of them. And the victims are asked to confirmed certain details like social insurance numbers, but are in reality giving these numbers to the fraudsters.

Garrecht says there is no recourse for anyone who has been scammed, particularly via Bitcoin.

“I don’t know a lot about it but it basically goes into this Bitcoin wallet and then it’s transferred to another wallet and it’s basically untraceable,” she said.

Garrecht offers the following advice to anyone who may get one of these calls.

“If you don’t recognize the number, don’t answer it. If it’s important they’ll leave you a message. When you get a recording or they tell you to do something, don’t do it. Just hang up the phone and call us if you’re not sure.”

Supplied Image

Supplied Image