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March 01, 2018 - 2:20 PM
KIMBERLEY – A scammer accidentally called a B.C. RCMP detachment this week and threatened to have them arrested for not paying their taxes.
Kimberley RCMP Sgt. Chris Newel says the call came to their main number Tuesday, Feb. 27.
“It’s the typical one where they phone up and say this is the Canada Revenue Agency, you’ve got back taxes owing and we’re going to arrest you,” he says.
The clerk who answered the phone was too busy to play along, he says, and hung up, but the detachments social media post about what happened has already been shared more than 900 times with hundreds of comments.
Newel says the scam is common and relies on scare tactics to get their target to send them money.
“I get them at home from time to time,” Newel says. “I play along a little bit. They don’t like that.”
Newel decided to post the incident to Facebook and says he is surprised by the huge response.
“It was just something I thought I’d throw out there, it’s funny,” he says, adding the clerk who answered the phone did what they recommend everyone should, hang up.
“We didn’t go out and get any iTunes cards for them or anything like that,” he says. “We didn’t let it go that far. I would have loved to have played along a bit.”
He wants to let the public know the scam is happening to everyone, and to remind people that Canada Revenue Agency does not make phone calls.
Less than two months ago a Vernon woman lost $11,000 to the same scam.
“They don’t target individuals, they send it out en masse,” Newel says. “There’s no rhyme or reason, it’s all auto-dialers.”
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