The Parry Sound OPP continue to receive reports of people falling for scams and frauds.
On Wednesday, two locals fell victim to the CRA scam.
In one case, a victim was told that he owed $6000.00 to the CRA and was told to buy Google Play Cards. The victim did buy $750.00 worth of cards at a local business and was at a second business to purchase more cards when a clever employee notified the police of the suspicious activity.
Constable Miles Loach said that the employee asked the man why he was purchasing such a high volume of Google Cards when the man realized that he was being scammed. Police intervened and stopped the scam.
In a separate fraud incident in Parry Sound, on the same day, a victim received a call from a man stating he was investigating a bank employee in town.
The victim was told to buy $2000.00 in Google Play Cards, after which she would receive a $500 reward for assisting with the investigation. The victim did buy the cards and provided the card information to the scammer. The incident is still under investigation.
The public is strongly cautioned to be aware of fraudsters that may request payment via money service businesses, pre‐paid cards/gift cards (iTunes or Google Play) or bitcoin. Constable Loach said that phone numbers are generated through over-seas services where tracing the call can be difficult.
The public is reminded that the CRA will never threaten you over the telephone or instruct you to purchase gift cards for any kind of payment.