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Nanaimo senior takes cab rides around city buying $15,000 worth of gift cards for scammer

RCMP advise of phone scam that happened Jan. 3
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Nanaimo RCMP are warning about a recent phone scam in which a senior bought thousands of dollars of gift cards. (Stock photo)

A Nanaimo senior was defrauded out of $15,000 last week in a gift card scam.

According to a Nanaimo RCMP press release, a woman received a call Jan. 3 from a scammer who said he was an investigator working with CIBC. He asked the victim to purchase $15,000 worth of gift cards “in order to test to see if her debit card was working,” and the woman was provided with a list of businesses at which to buy the gift cards.

“For the next several hours, she took a taxi to the locations to purchase the cards,” the release noted. “When she arrived home, the suspect called and had her read the 10-digit code to him from the back of each card.”

RCMP say the woman is working with her bank to find out if she can be reimbursed.

Anyone with any information about the case is asked to call the Nanaimo RCMP’s non-emergency line at 250-754-2345 and quote file No. 2023-286.

READ ALSO: Nanaimo woman tricked by scammer into granting online banking access



editor@nanaimobulletin.com

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