Telephone Fraud

The Sherbrooke Police has asked us to share the following information with our community:

A type of fraud is still rampant on our territory and throughout Quebec. The modus operandi is classic: an individual claiming to be from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or Service Canada contacts you, first stating that your social insurance number has been compromised and adding that an arrest warrant has been issued against you. The fake officer wants to force you to pay the amount due immediately. They then ask you to go and buy gift cards and give them the numbers and codes of these cards, or go to a BitCoin counter and deposit in a “safe account”.

Specifically, the citizen sees 819-821-5555 on their telephone display, the telephone number of the Sherbrooke Police Department or any other government number. These fraudsters have the IT capacity to modify the displayed caller’s number.

This way of operating allows them not to expose themselves in person, and renders police searches more complex. In this type of fraud, the suspects are often very insistent, and refuse to let you hang up (and avoid allowing the victim to seek advice). The Sherbrooke police have received numerous calls in connection with this fraud in recent days.

Remember that no police department or government agency would require these payment methods!