In a news report released Tuesday, Kelowna RCMP say that an elderly couple narrowly avoided falling victim to an e-transfer scam by bringing physical cash to bail out their grandson who evidently was not behind bars.
The couple had taken a call from the “grandson,” who told them he was arrested for impaired driving after he suffered a broken nose in a car accident, the RCMP said in the release. The “grandson” said he was at the courthouse, and that he needed $1,000 in bail money, and asked them to transfer him the funds electronically.
They came to the Kelowna RCMP detachment with $1,000 in hand, hoping to post bail.
“It didn’t take long for the Kelowna Mountie, assigned to assist the elderly couple, to determine that their grandson was not in police custody and the couple were likely being targeted by a scammer,” Cpl. Jesse O’Donaghey said in the news release.
The scam is known as the “Grandparent Scam” or the “Emergency Scam” — one in which a person who claims to be in distress contacts an elderly couple asking for money.
The RCMP noted that victims of such scams usually don’t verify the scammer’s story before they hand over the cash.
Read the full story over at the CBC.
