A Langford man is out $10,000 after a scam artist posed as a police officer, drove the victim to the bank and convinced him to deposit the money into a bitcoin account.
The man called West Shore RCMP on July 2 to report that he had been defrauded, said West Shore RCMP spokeswoman Const. Nancy Saggar.
It started when the victim answered a phone call from what appeared to be the West Shore RCMP non-emergency line. (Fraudsters often use internet phone-phishing technology to change the number that shows up on call display.)
The fraudster told the man he was a police officer and that the man was facing criminal charges involving his social insurance card. The scammer said to avoid trouble, the man needed to deposit money into a bitcoin account.
At 2:40 p.m. July 2, the fraudster picked up the man from his home and drove him to the Royal Bank at West Shore Town Centre. He instructed the victim to take out $10,000 from his account, then take a taxi to a bitcoin deposit location on Fort Street in Victoria.
The suspect was not dressed in a police uniform and did not show any police identification, Saggar said. He was driving a newer model red Toyota Corolla, not a police vehicle.
The suspect is described as a white man in his 40s, five-feet-five-inches tall with a slim build and short brown hair. He was wearing a light-coloured sweater and khaki pants. He used the pseudonym Rayen Rosen.
Saggar said while phishing and bitcoin frauds are common, “what is not common is the suspect posing as a police officer, offering to pick you up and driving you to the bank.”
She said typically these frauds take place over the phone and the fraudster pressures the victim into staying on the phone until the deposit is done.
Investigators have canvassed the area for video surveillance, but neither the fraudster nor his vehicle were caught on camera. Police are asking anyone in the area at the time with dash-camera footage to look through it and contact West Shore RCMP if any of the footage might help in the investigation.
The vehicle would have been parked near the Royal Bank at West Shore Town Centre between 2:40 and 3:15 p.m. on July 2, Saggar said. Anyone with information on the investigation is asked to call West Shore RCMP at 250-474-2264.
• For information on protecting yourself from fraud, go to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre website: www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/index-eng.htm
