A White Rock, B.C., business owner says she is happy she was able to help a senior avoid being scammed.
On June 5, Priya Badesha, co-owner of the Red Rooster Food Store, said she noticed an older gentleman walk into the store and head towards the back where the Bitcoin machine is located.
Badesha said the man was on his phone and he looked very frustrated.
“I went up to him. I’m like, ‘Sir, is there anything I can help you with?’,” she said.
“And, he’s like, ‘Yeah, can you show me how to use this machine?'”
Badesha said she would help but she asked him why he needed to use the machine. That’s when she could hear the man on the phone instruct the senior to tell her he was speaking to his financial adviser.
“He sounded a little bit suspicious, so I said, ‘No problem. I can help you’,” Badesha said.
She then pretended to go and help another customer and that’s when she called the White Rock RCMP non-emergency line.
RCMP officers showed up quickly, Badesha added, and when police asked to talk to the man on the phone, that’s when the suspected scammer hung up.
Badesha said she feels grateful she was able to help but she said they see people trying to use the Bitcoin machine almost daily.
“I have so many friends and I know their parents, grandparents have been scammed,” she said.
“So anytime I can help anybody to see if you don’t know what Bitcoin is it’s not legit or somebody offering you a job with the money, if you pay them in advance it’s not legit.”
Badesha said she recently saw a young girl attempt to use the machine and put $1,000 in Bitcoin and she said the girl had been offered a $3,000 job, which was a scam.
“These guys are so smart that they make you think that they’re legit, but they’re not,” she said.
White Rock RCMP said the best thing to do if anyone is contacted by someone demanding money to hang up the phone or delete the email or online message.
Badesha said she will continue to help wherever she can.
“Anytime I can help somebody, it makes me feel better that I save somebody’s money,” she said.