The Sarnia Police Service has had three recent frauds brought to their attention in recent days. These are examples of online frauds which are routinely reported to police. Police urge residents to not engage in risky online behavior and to educate elderly relatives of these common schemes.
On September 24th, 2024, the Sarnia Police were dispatched to attend the residence of a 67-year-old female. In 2023, the female received a Facebook friend request from an unknown party and began conversing with him. The online friend over the course of 12 months gained the trust of the female, discussing his job as a doctor and concocted an elaborate story about being with "Doctors without Borders". The female victim eventually believed that this male was her fiance and that the male was being dispatched to a war zone.
The male then concocted an emergency story about needing money to be evacuated from the war zone and then came up with several excuses as to why he could not access his own funds. Story after story was used to illicit more funds from the victim. In total, the female victim handed over $350,000 to the male.
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On September 26th, 2024, a 63-year-old male contacted the Sarnia Police Service indicating he believed he had been scammed. The male was randomly contacted online by a person posing as a female. The female struck up a friendship and encouraged the male to send nude pictures over the internet. The male received nude photos in return.
The male was then contacted online by someone posing as a "U.S. Bureau Interpol" officer who threatened to arrest the male for sending the nude photos. The officer was able to convince the male victim that he could send money to avoid being arrested. The female then began messaging the male and convinced him to send money to her as well. In total, the male sent $52,439 to these scammers.
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On September 26th, 2024 the Sarnia Police Service were dispatched to a bank where a 61-year-old male was attempting to withdraw $130,000 and was being stopped by bank employees, who realized the scam. The male received a random phone call from "Readers Digest Mega Millions" advising that he had won $50 Million dollars. In order to claim this money, the male had to send money to the fraudster to claim his prize which he did over the past year. The male was then duped into a romance scam from the same fraudster and began sending intimate photos along with more money. The total loss from this scam was $710,000.
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While these scams are commonplace and easily detected by people who are internet-savvy, the Sarnia Police Service routinely receives reports of this nature. Losses of this magnitude are commonplace, especially with vulnerable seniors who are trusting and can be manipulated.
It is also extremely difficult to investigate these matters as the scammers are usually savvy and are committing these criminal acts from different countries. Attempting to track down the source of the fraud is a time-consuming endeavour for police investigators.