Some Nakusp residents got to spend their first waking moments dealing with “aggressive” phone scammers on Wednesday.
Nakusp RCMP say a strange flurry of phone calls from an unknown source connected with dozens of village residents first thing in the morning, demanding personal information from residents.
“There was aggressive calling, and finally when people answered, they were being asked to provide the last three numbers of their SIN card,” says Jaime Moffat, the head of the Nakusp RCMP detachment. “They were saying the SIN had been compromised, and they were trying to get information from people.”
Dozens of people reported being targeted on social media.
“Lots of calls today on both mine and my husband’s cell phones at the same time starting at 7:30 this morning,” said one commenter on the Nakusp Communicator, a community Facebook page. “Just had our sixth call today. Wears a little thin…”
“I’ve had five today,” said another woman. “I block the number and they call back with a different one.”
The advice from the police remains the same for all these scams.
“Please ensure you are not providing any information over the phone for any reason. Please help educate others that may fall victim to these phone scams,” says Moffat. “No reputable business or agency will call you asking you to provide personal information such as account numbers and SIN numbers.”
She says she’s heard of at least one person who gave some personal details to the callers, but it’s not certain it was enough for them to act on.
Moffat says if anyone has been contacted by the scammers to report it to the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501. That agency tracks data information that may help authorities track down the scammers.