June 23, 2025
RED FM News Desk
MISSION, BC – Mission RCMP is issuing a warning to the public about a sophisticated bank scam after a local woman lost tens of thousands of dollars.
According to RCMP, on May 28, a 68-year-old woman from Mission reported to police that she had been targeted by scammers and lost as much as $60,000.
The elaborate scheme began on May 20 when the woman received a call from a man claiming to be a representative of her bank. He told her that her bank cards had been compromised and that new ones would be issued. He then arranged for a courier to collect her old cards. A driver from a rideshare company subsequently arrived at her residence, and she handed over the cards.
An hour later, the fraudulent bank representative called the woman again, claiming that all her financial accounts had been compromised by scammers. He advised her to turn over all her other debit and credit cards, and another rideshare company courier was dispatched to collect them. During these calls, the scammer also managed to obtain other personal information, including her PIN numbers. Shortly after, the woman realized she had been the victim of an elaborate scam, and thousands of dollars had already been withdrawn from her accounts.
Mission RCMP has since spoken with one of the rideshare drivers, who is cooperating with the investigation. However, the second rideshare driver has not yet been located. Investigators determined that the woman’s financial cards were taken to the parking lot of the Home Depot on Henning Drive in Burnaby, where a man wearing a face covering picked them up.
The investigation is ongoing, but police note that even if criminal charges are laid, the chances of recovering the stolen funds are low.
Police Caution Public Against Scams
Police are urging anyone who receives a phone call from a financial institution to verify the authenticity of the call before providing any personal information or taking any action. In this particular case, the scammer even sent a legitimate-looking email with a link that the woman clicked, leading her to what she believed was her actual bank’s phone line, but was in fact the scammer’s line.
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