Woman loses $4000 through text message scam

Nanaimo

2024-01-26 15:09 PST

File # 2024-2624

A local woman who thought she was texting with her son, ended up being scammed for just over $4000. The incident played out on Tuesday January 23, 202 and involved a phone number from Quebec.

The adult woman told police she had been texting with her adult son who lives out of province. A short time later, she received a text message from an unknown number. The message said began with I’m stressed, can you help pay some bills for me. Without giving it to much thought, she assumed the text had been sent from her son. When she responded to the unknown number, she asked why he was using a different number. The scammer (who she believed was her son) said that he had been having issues with his phone and that he needed to purchase a new phone. 

Over the course of several texts, the scammer provided an email for an individual by the name of Peter Olah and a business name of Simple Wealth. The woman was instructed to send two e-transfers, one to be directed to peterke@wealthsimple.me. The two e-transfers totaled approximately $4000. The next day, she received another text from the scammer asking for more money. At that time, she contacted her son and it was then that she realized that she had been scammed.

Since then, she has since gone to her chartered bank and to date, she has been reimbursed for almost 50 percent of her losses.

The phone number the scammer was texting from was 1-581-702-0162. This scam could happen to anyone. The best course of action is to always, slow down, give it some thought, use google services to assist if necessary and always verify who you are communicating before making any financial decisions, said R/Cst Gary O’Brien of the Nanaimo RCMP.

To learn more about current frauds and scams, visit the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre  

Released by:

Email: gary.obrien@rcmp-grc.gc.ca
Website: nanaimo.rcmp-grc.gc.ca

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