A “team” of potential fraudsters pretending to have disabilities and collecting money for what’s believed to be a bogus charity have been making the rounds in West Kelowna, B.C., prompting a police warning.
Two suspicious women were first seen March 17 in the parking lot of a business located in the 3600 block of Carrington Road, RCMP said in a press release.
“(A) witness was approached by two women with blue clipboards who claimed to be deaf and asked for cash toward an alleged charity,” RCMP said.
“Suspicious of the two, the witness declined and would later observe the two communicating between each other seemingly without disability before observing them asking other bystanders again for money, but with communication difficulty.”
A similar situation was reported to police on March 18. In that case, two male and two female suspects were reported travelling around different mall locations in the Vernon area posing as persons with disabilities and collecting money for an alleged charity.
“The four are also believed to be working together simultaneously distracting mall employees while another managed to steal five Apple iPhones from one particular store location,” RCMP said.
These four individuals are believed to be the same suspects who committed identical offences in the Lake Louise and Banff, Alta., areas on March 8.
Photos of the female suspects were taken as recently as March 17 by the witness in West Kelowna. Photos of the male suspects were captured on CCTV on March 18 in Vernon.
“These individuals are believed to be in the greater Okanagan area or possibly heading toward Alberta,” RCMP said.
Anyone with information as to their identity or whereabouts is asked to phone the Kelowna RCMP at 250-762-3300 and reference file number 2024-13913.
Those who would like to report information anonymously are asked to call the Central Okanagan Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at www.crimestoppers.net.
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