Salmon Arm RCMP said Wednesday they are seeing an extremely high call volume of area residents reporting fraud.
These calls are to grandparents and other loved ones, stating that one of their family members is in jail and needs bail money. These calls are coming from the 832 phone prefix, RCMP said in a press release.
“The fraudsters are pleading with people to send gift cards, offering to pick up money, give a credit card number or requests to transfer funds,” RCMP said.
These calls are a hoax and, no matter how convincing, RCMP said remember it’s still a fraud and it should not be paid, no matter how convincing it may be.
“Bail can only be paid to the police, in our case the RCMP, or at the courthouse in person,” RCMP said.
“Do not hand over no money and don’t even listen, hang up right away.”