The Salmon Arm RCMP responded to a number of thefts in early April, with one of those being another online scam.
On April 6, a woman reported that she’d responded to a Facebook group ad for a job, and was told that a manager would be in contact. Someone with an Ontario area code then messaged her through WhatsApp, and walked her through setting up a cryptocurrency account, buying bitcoin, and then transferring $4,500 of that to the fraudsters.
They attempted to have the victim transfer another $5,000 in bitcoin, but she refused that time.
“Salmon Arm RCMP advise using extra caution when using applications such as Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji, and online group forums that are advertising employment, services or used items at rates that appear too good to be true,” Const. Andrew Hodges said in an April 20 media release. “Police also highly discourage sending money to anyone you have not met in person, unless it is money you are willing to risk losing.”
Just days later, on April 8, to an old school, in-person theft at 5:40 a.m., a man reported seeing two males break into an ATM, with the utility door next to it pried open. The caller was able to provide detailed descriptions of the two men, as well as the direction they were headed.
“Police attended and located two matching suspects at a nearby gas station,” Hodges said. “Both men were arrested for break-and-enter, and theft and mischief.”
The two were later released with a future court date, while police forwarded the charges to BC Prosecution for charge assessment.
The final incident occurred on April 11, when a man in the 2000 block of Highway 97B reported that his blue Dodge Ram 3500 had been stolen between then and the previous day, adding that he didn’t know if the keys had been left inside the vehicle or not.
The vehicle had rammed through a locked gate to escape and appeared to head south on Hwy. 97B.
The file is under further investigation.
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