Kelowna woman scammed out of hundreds of dollars in elaborate scheme

Cindy Rafuse is on a fixed income, so when she was offered $400, she took the bait.

“I am so embarrassed,” she told Global News. “I can’t believe I fell for something like this.”

The ordeal wound up costing her $900.

READ MORE: Phone scam prompts fraud warning from Vernon North Okanagan RCMP

Last Friday, the Kelowna woman received a phone call from a man who identified himself as an employee with the Microsoft Windows refund department.

He asked if she wanted to renew or cancel her Microsoft account. Cancelling it would mean a $399 refund.

She told the man she would accept the refund and cancel the account.

READ MORE: How to track down forgotten funds, protect yourself from scams: BC Unclaimed Property Society

Rafuse was then told she would have to follow a number of instructions, including setting up an online banking account, which she didn’t have.

With the help of the scam artists, Rafuse set up the account and punched in all her personal banking information.

“They tell me what to type in, and, sure enough, they have control of the mouse. Now they have control of my computer,’ she said.

The scammers then told her they made a mistake and accidentally deposited an extra $2,000 into her account.

Rafuse says she believed it, as she could see it all on her computer.

“He says ‘Well, a mistake has been made; I’m going to lose my job. We need to get that money back as soon as possible,” she said.

The scammer told her that he would give her an additional $200 — on top of that $400 refund — if she cooperated and returned that unintended $2,000 deposit.

That meant she owed the scammers $1,800.

She agreed and was told to pay back the $1,800 by purchasing Google Play cards and then giving the scammers the activation codes.

But because Rafuse could only take out $1,000 a day from the bank machine, the scammer agreed she could purchase $900 worth of Google Play cards one day, then buy another batch worth $900 the next day, totalling the $1,800 she “owed” them.

She obliged and went to buy the first batch of cards.

Rafuse thought she was using the scammer’s money to make the purchase. However, it turned out that since the scammers had access to her online banking, they simply moved her money from her savings account to her chequing account.

She didn’t know she was using her own money to buy the cards.

After giving the scammers the activation code numbers, she realized something wasn’t right.

“I learned a real hard way,” she said. “I thought I was smarter than that.”

RCMP in the Okanagan said these kind of elaborate phone scams are on the rise.

Many scams involve victims buying Google Play cards totaling hundreds of dollars, and, in some cases, worth thousands.

This past June, a Kelowna woman was scammed out of nearly $40,000. She, too, was instructed to buy Google Play cards over the course of several days.

READ MORE: B.C. woman scammed out of almost $40K, lost nearly $80K: Kelowna RCMP

Earlier this month, a Vernon resident also fell victim to the scam, losing what police described as a significant amount of cash.

That scam also involved Google Play cards.

As for Rafuse, she is going public with her story to prevent others from making the same mistake.

“Do not give out any information,” she warned. “If someone offers you money, it’s a lie.”