Sunshine Coast RCMP are alerting the public to be vigilant after two recent reports of phone scams.
On May 15, a Coast resident received a phone call from a male who greeted the resident by saying "Hi, grandma."
When the resident questioned the male, saying he didn't sound like her grandson, the male got defensive and berated her for not knowing the sound of her own grandson. The resident continued to question his identity, and accidently gave out the names of her actual grandsons, information the male used to insist he was one of her grandsons. The resident refused to accept thisand the caller finally hung up. This is a common scam where the caller pretends to be someone known to the recipient, and at some point, the caller will ask for money to help with an emergency of some sort. Police remind residents to always confirm any such calls.
In the second incident, a Coast resident fell for a common scam where the scammer calls and identifies him or herself as a Microsoft employee.
The scammer then offers a virus protection package and requests the victim follow instructions on their computer, which then allows the scammer remote access to the computer. The scammer then requests the victim's credit card and other personal info, and starts charging the credit card varying amounts of money.
Police remind people to be very wary about giving out any personal or financial info to cold callers and to be suspicious of any computer or bank or financial related schemes.
- Submitted
