Police warn after North Vancouver parent almost defrauded of $50,000 in jewelry scam

North Vancouver RCMP are warning the public about telephone scams that are targeting parents as well as grandparents.

Recently, a North Vancouver RCMP Frontline officer responded to a fraud where the suspect called the victim to advise them that their son had been arrested by the police. The suspect asked the victim to mail $50,000 in jewellery in a parcel to Quebec. The victim did initially send their family heirlooms to the suspect, but the officer recovered the $50,000 package and returned the precious heirlooms to the victim.

The scam telephone calls involve callers identifying themselves as law enforcement and asking for bail money or jewellery for a son, daughter, grandchild or other family member. The callers know the names of their family members and ask for money to bail their loved ones out of jail.

Law enforcement will never call you asking for money, said Cpl. Melissa Jongema of North Vancouver RCMP. If you receive a phone call where bail money, jewellery or gift cards are requested for a family member’s release from jail, please do not provide any money or items to anyone. Hang up and report the incident to your local police.

If you are in North Vancouver and receive a scam telephone call from someone pretending to be law enforcement, please report it to the North Vancouver RCMP at (604) 985-1311.

How to protect yourself:

Report the scam call to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre’s online reporting system or call them toll-free at 1-888-495-8501.

Be careful about posting personal details and names of family members on social media platforms.

Privatize your social media accounts and protect your personal information.

Change your online passwords to be difficult and all different from each other.

Be careful with caller ID numbers that look familiar. Scammers use technology to disguise the actual number they are calling from to make it appear as a trusted phone number.