Submitted by
Sgt. G.D.SIMPSON
On Oct. 29 at 12:30 p.m. a 36 year old local man advised the Clearwater RCMP that he was the victim of a fraud under $5,000 income tax scam in Clearwater.
He had previously received a legitimate $4,000 income tax bill in the mail from Revenue Canada a few weeks back. Today he was called from an Ontario phone number 1-613-209-7702 stating he owed $6,000 and if he did not pay 25 per cent that day, an RCMP officer from Clearwater (250-674-2237 on cell phone display with a hard accent) would come and arrest him as he had an outstanding warrant.
He was also told if he did not pay he could serve five years in jail or be charged $93,000 in court and legal fees. The man purchased $1,450 in Google Play $50 gift cards and sent photos of the back of them to the Ontario phone number.
They called him back and said he had to send $500 more. The man then asked police if he had been scammed. Police advised that he had been and there were no warrants for him.
Police advised the man to contact Google Play and try cancel the transaction as purchases were done with his debit card, not credit card. The man also provided phone numbers to Canada Revenue and the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre.
Police are reminding the public that this is a widespread telephone scam and to be aware that the Canada Revenue Agency (formerly Revenue Canada) will never attempt to settle outstanding accounts over the phone.
Another scam to be aware of: on Oct. 31 a 40 year-old local woman attended the Clearwater RCMP detachment to report that she had given out her Social Insurance Number (SIN) via email on this date.
She advised that she had received an email that appeared to come from Apple ID requesting personal information from her. She emailed them back with her SIN, address, phone number, mother’s maiden name, email address, Apple ID & password.
After realizing her mistake, she has called Apple ID, reported this to them and they have changed her account ID and password. She is going to attend her banks and advise them what has occurred.
Police also advised her to contact Equifax, Canada Revenue Agency (not Revenue Canada) her bank and to monitor her credit card statements for some time. SIN numbers are often used to obtain loans and credit cards and should be protected diligently.
At 12:30 p.m. on Oct. 31, a 60 year-old man called the Clearwater RCMP to report that at approximately 5:30 a.m. that morning while on his way to work in Vavenby, he crested the top of Birch Island hill on Yellowhead Highway.
There were pools of water on the road from heavy rain so when his vehicle hit the pools it hydroplaned over the bank off the right side of the highway.
The vehicle came to rest a ways down the bank and the driver climbed back up to the highway, where a couple vehicles drove by and then a man from Birch Island picked him up and took him to the Clearwater Hospital.
The driver has been diagnosed with a broken shoulder and a concussion as his head had struck the driver’s side door. At 1:45 p.m. police located the vehicle across the highway from Burman Rd. It was travelling northbound when it went off road right down a very steep embankment before crashing once into the ground, travelling another 10 meters before striking a tree and rolling down the steep embankment, eventually coming to rest on its tires 40 meters down the hill.
The driver advised he had hit the grooved payment with water, hydro-planed left, swerved right, then left, swerved right again over the ditch and down the hill.
The driver contacted ICBC to make arrangements to have the vehicle towed. A local tow company was contacted by ICBC and towed the vehicle the following day.
Please adjust your driving to suite adverse road and weather conditions.
Anyone with information on the above can call Clearwater RCMP at 250-674-2237 or make an anonymous tip by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.