Winkler police warn of ‘more sophisticated’ phone scams

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Telephone and Internet scammers are hard at work preying on residents of Winkler and some continue to fall victim to their scams, police warn.

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The most recent stats from the Winker Police Service show that between Sept. 16-29 there were three calls to police regarding alleged scams, and in two of those cases victims handed money over to the scammers.

Winkler Police Service chief Ryan Hunt said scammers are increasingly going to great lengths to convince people that what they are saying is legitimate, and that’s why he believes people continue to fall for their scams and send them money.

“These scammers do a lot of research and a lot of times they know personal information, phone numbers and names of family members so it’s easy for victims to believe what they are saying,” Hunt said. “The scams are becoming more and more sophisticated.”

Hunt says that anyone being asked to send money online or over the phone should always immediately assume they are being scammed and not send any money until they prove otherwise.

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“Assume it’s a scam first and always start from there,” he said. “Do not send money to anyone until you’ve been able to prove 100% it’s not a scam.

“Always be skeptical because these guys are good at what they do, and they can be very convincing.”

On Sept. 18, Winkler police said they received a call from a woman about an immigration scam that led to the woman handing over a “large sum” of cash.

Police said the woman had been chatting with another woman on social media who offered to represent her in her ongoing immigration process.

Police said the victim proceeded to e-transfer a large sum of money, after which the scammer demanded more money and threatened her with deportation if she did not send more.

The victim has since declined pursuing charges.

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On the same day, another woman told police she received a scam email requesting bitcoin be paid to the scammer or they would send inappropriate videos to her contacts.

Police said the scammer had knowledge of the female’s phone number and address but did not receive any cash from the woman.

Police also asked her to check her banking information to ensure the scammer didn’t have access to it.

Police said they also received a report of a scam in the area on Sept. 20 when a male reported a scam involving crypto-currency.

Police said it was approximately one year ago the man began investing in bitcoin and was advised that if he ever wanted to withdraw a large amount of money there would be withdrawal fees.

When the male later requested to withdraw money, he was told a large fee was required to process the withdrawal, but the scammer said he would send the man money to cover the fee.

After the fee for the withdrawal was sent, the man did not receive the money he requested to withdraw and later learned that money sent to him by the scammer to cover those fees was from “pay now” loans and he was now responsible for paying that money back as well.

— Dave Baxter is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Winnipeg Sun. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

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