"Embarrassed" CRA-con victim made up phony-cops story—Vancouver police

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      Vancouver police today (June 22) sent out a news release that retracted information about a con-artist victim contained in a bulletin released Thursday (June 21).

      The earlier release warned the public about the experience of an unnamed 58-year-old woman who claimed to have received a call from someone who purported to be from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and later was handcuffed by two men dressed as RCMP officers and driven to a bank, where she withdrew $6,000.

      Today's release states that the woman was, in actuality, "embarrassed" about being scammed and made up the part about the phony cops and "kidnapping".

      According to today's release: "Major Crime detectives have confirmed that the woman was scammed out of $6,000, but at no time did she deal with anyone in person. This CRA scam was no different than other telephone scams reported in the past."

      The bulletin went on to quote VPD spokesperson and constable Jason Doucette: "Based on the seriousness of the information originally reported by the victim, a team of Major Crime investigators were reassigned to focus on and prioritize this incident. Detectives confirmed this morning that the victim was embarrassed for falling for the scam and panicked, deciding to exaggerate her story to include fake police...Our officers will continue with their investigation and will consider available options.”

      Police say that anyone who has been victimized by such a CRA scam should contact their local police department.

      The VPD release also advised: "The CRA will not threaten people with arrest, send the police to collect funds, or accept Bitcoin and gift cards as payment."

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