Melissa Fairhurst awoke to a phone call she won’t soon forget on the night of Jan. 14.
On the other line was a man impersonating a Sûreté du Québec (SQ) police officer, she said.
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The man even gave her the name of an officer from the Montreal area, as well as a badge number.
The fraudster claimed her cell phone was in the possession of someone who had been dealing crystal meth.
But something just didn’t add up — Fairhurst had her cell phone with her.
“The guy on the phone said we have a really bad file up against you,” Fairhurst said. “At that point I said, ‘No it’s impossible with my line of work I require a police check annually.'”
Fairhurst said she’s considering filing a complaint, something the SQ says is essential to begin the investigation.
The SQ notes that they would have handled the situation differently.
“There was some drug trafficking that was mentioned, if that’s the case trust me we’re not going to call you by phone and make these allegations,” SQ spokesman Daniel Thibaudeau said.
“We’ll invite you to come and see us at a police station.”
Fairhurst was unable to obtain a callback number despite asking for one.
Security experts say retrieving that number is key.
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“If it’s somebody you don’t know, you didn’t call for a specific service, you didn’t complain about anything then you need to be on your toes,” security expert Claude Sarrazin said.
Fraudsters often sound credible and convincing, he added.
“They’re confidence men,” Sarrazin said. “They’re really people that are attacking some key issues in the human psyche to be able to fraud these people.”