Police warn of phone scam impersonating Kelowna RCMP non-emergency line

Police are investigating reports of scammers using Kelowna RCMP’s non-emergency phone line to extract personal information from people.

On Sept. 20, a Kelowna resident reported a phone scam where the callers were using the non-emergency line.

The complainant was initially contacted from telephone number 250-250-0311. The caller advised the complainant they had a warrant for their arrest and requested personal information to corroborate their identity.

The information included full name, date of birth, address driver’s license number and some banking information.

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According to police, the complainant hung the phone up immediately after realizing it was a scam.

Shortly after, the complainant received calls and white noise voicemails from telephone number 250-762-3300, which is the Kelowna RCMP non-emergency line.

The calls were unanswered and the complainant reported the matter.

“The scammer(s) are clearly using some sort of caller ID spoofing technology to impersonate the police. In some cases an officer could in fact call someone to say they have a warrant but would never ask for this type of corroborating information, especially banking info” says Cpl. Michael Gauthier, Media Relations Unit.

“Fortunately, this person realized something was suspicious, ceased communications immediately and phoned the real police.”

RCMP are reminding anyone who may have been victim to a scam attempt to contact Equifax (1-800-525-6285), Trans Union (1-800-888-4213) and report the matter to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (1-888-495-8501).