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Friday, August 28 , 2015
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Latest scam riles up seniors and police Pamela Roth Victoria News
Don Denton/Victoria News
Hazy days of summer A freighter passes by offshore as kites fly over Clover Point on a hazy August afternoon.
As seniors gathered for their morning activities with the James Bay New Horizons Society on Tuesday, much of the conversation centered around the alarming increase in calls from fraudsters with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) phone scam. Those that attend the facility are educated regularly about various scams and the necessary precautions so they don’t become a victim. So far nobody at the society has fallen for the latest scam that appears to be targeting many seniors in the city. “We do worry. There’s always the ones that we don’t reach and you’re never sure what’s going to happen and if they could fall victim,” said Kim Dixon, executive director with James Bay New Horizons, adding seniors are taught to have a whistle by the phone to blow if a caller becomes belligerent. “Probably every month there’s something different going on. Again, we just tell them to be aware.” Victoria police have been flooded with calls lately from citizens traumatized by the CRA scam that typically involves a phone call from an angry caller, claiming to represent the agency and that taxes are owed. The caller requests immediate payment by credit card or convinces the victims to purchase a prepaid credit card and call back immediately with the information. If they don’t, the victims are often threatened with court charges, jail or deportation. In some cases, local residents
attempted to turn themselves in for what they believed to be nonpayment of their taxes. One woman who went to police headquarters to face arrest was crying and shaking. Victoria police Chief Frank Elsner would like to have a unit dedicated towards investigating seniors abuse, but the department doesn’t have the resources to do so at this time. In 2013, Victoria police recorded 320 fraud cases and 303 the previous year. The bulk of those cases targeted seniors, and include
“We do worry. There’s always the ones we don’t reach and you’re never sure what’s going to happen and if they could fall victim.” - Kim Dixon
scams such as the ‘grandchild send money I’m in trouble or hurt scam’ and the sweetheart scam. In February 2014, two doorto-door home renovation scam artists were manipulating seniors and disabled residents in Victoria and Esquimalt. In one incident, an Esquimalt woman arrived home to find the two men tearing apart her roof. When she confronted them, the men told the woman her disabled son had authorized the work. The two men fled after damaging the woman’s roof. Detectives with the fraud unit have since reached out to a number of senior care facilities. PLEASE SEE: Senior scams, Page A2
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