Bank employee, police officer impersonation scams cost Calgarians $43K so far this year

The Calgary Police Service (CPS) says it continues to deal with scams where criminals pretend to be representatives from banks and police officers, and is out with a warning to the public.

Most recently, police warned of victims being targeted for their debit and credit cards, and an additional scam where victims were being contacted by individuals posing as CPS officers.

Over the last few months, officials say scammers have changed their tactics and are using elements from both scams to continue to defraud Calgarians.

So far this year, there have been more than 30 reports from Calgarians who have been called by someone posing as a local police officer.

Some of these calls have resulted in a combined loss of more than $43,000.

In a recent report to police, a victim was contacted by phone by a scammer posing as an employee at the victim’s bank, CPS says. The caller said they were calling in regard to a fraudulent charge on the victim’s credit card and she needed to lock her cards to prevent being victimized further.

Police explain the victim was referred to a website where she was told to input personal information, including details about her cards. The woman was then told she would be contacted by a CPS officer who would arrange to pick up the compromised card.

The victim is believed to have received an email from an account using a CPS officer’s name to arrange a courier to pick up the cards.

CPS says the cards were eventually picked up by an unknown person posing as a courier.

A short time later, the victim realized she was missing thousands of dollars from her account and contacted police.

The entire situation was determined to be a scam following a police investigation.

The caller was not an employee of a bank, the victim’s cards were not initially compromised, the website the victim used to lock her cards was illegitimate and the email account from the CPS officer was fraudulent.

Victims have also reported received calls from individuals claiming to be CPS officers asking to transfer cryptocurrency, requesting large payments for outstanding traffic tickets, encouraging monetary donations to the Calgary Police Service, asking to send gift cards, and telling the victim they were a victim of fraud, and asking an abundance of personal details and information.

Some of the callers are believed to appear on caller ID as a CPS phone number, but the agency says the calls are not coming from the organization.

Anyone who receives this type of call should ask for the officer’s full name, regimental number, and a case file number. Then, hang up and call the CPS non-emergency line at 403-266-1234 to verify the individual before calling them back to continue the conversation.

The CPS says it will never call or email and ask citizens to provide financial information or transfer money.

Calgarians are reminded of the following tips to protect themselves from financial scams:

• Be suspicious of unexpected and unusual phone calls, especially ones demanding some form of urgent action, financial or otherwise.
• Do not share personal details, financial information or send money to the unknown caller.
• Our officers will never ask you to transfer money, cryptocurrency or gift cards as part of an investigation or suggest transactions as a way to guard your finances.
• If you are suspicious of a call regarding your finances, compromised cards or an unsolicited courier service, contact your bank or financial institution using a verified number on their website or app, or visit a branch in-person.

Anyone who has suffered a financial loss or who has had their personal information compromised because of fraud can report it to the Calgary Police Service by contacting the non-emergency line at 403-266-1234 or Crime Stoppers