Sgt. Lisa Davey, Regina Police Service (RPS) and Rotarian Joanna Alexander
Sgt. Davey is one of the Sergeants in charge of the Financial Crimes Unit at RPS and investigates scams and frauds. Her unit has so many files that it is hard to keep up. Victims come from all walks of life. A local lawyer was defrauded of $16,000. A Regina resident lost $750,000. The fraudster makes contact, pitches a story with an urgent problem, gains trust and the victim sends money. A very common fraud is the grandparent scam.
Joanna Alexander spoke on behalf of a fellow Rotarian who was nearly defrauded.
The Rotarian received a call from his grandson who had been in a car accident and needed money for insurance and bail. The fraudster had the grandson’s voice, likely through Artificial Intelligence and the Rotarian was convinced that he was speaking to his grandson. He was asked for several thousand dollars. He was ready to go to the bank but when he was asked to put cash in a brown bag and deliver it he became suspicious. The fraudster was persistent and very convincing. He knew personal information about the grandson, likely picked up from social media. The Rotarian phoned the grandson’s parents and learned that the grandson was well. Only then did he realize that it was all a scam.
Sgt. Davey said the police are dealing with many, many cases. On May 17th RPS had 6 victims of this grandparent scam. 3 of the 6 had reported to police. On May 18th the Saskatoon Police arrested someone who had 6 envelopes containing cash. All 6 envelopes had names of Regina residents on them – the 3 who had reported and 3 who had not. One of those 3 was so convinced that it was her grandson that she would not believe the police officer until the officer had her grandson call and speak to her. Victims are often too embarrassed to contact police.
The calls are always time sensitive and urgent. Often the fraudster asks for payment in cryptocurrency, which is nearly impossible to trace. Email impersonators are prevalent. A supplier or employee will send an email asking a payer to change bank accounts for direct deposit. This scam even happened to a police officer. The scammer emailed the payroll department of the police service to change the officer’s bank account.
Sgt. Davey offered some advice:
- Never send money to anyone you don’t know and trust.
- Verify the person’s identity before you take any steps to help.
- Don’t give out any personal information to the caller.
- Ask the person questions that only your loved one would be able to answer.
- Call the grandchild’s parents to verify the story.