(OXFORD COUNTY, ON) - The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Oxford County detachment, are currently investigating a fraud involving a 'grand-parents scam'.
An elderly couple from Oxford County contacted police after realizing that they had been scammed. In between March 20 and April 1, 2019, the couple received several calls from an individual claiming to be a relative in trouble.
The couple was then instructed to send a total of $37,000 through several transactions by courier in order to get the relative out of jail. The money was sent and the elderly couple never heard from the relative again.
The OPP is warning all Oxford County residents that if they receive a call indicating that a relative is in trouble whether their vehicle has broken down or they are in jail in a far away town, please hang up the phone. This is a SCAM. Take the time to call someone who knows where the 'relative in trouble' might be and double check.
Don't become a statistic. Fraud is a multi-billion dollar enterprise that will only stop when the scammers stop getting money, banking information or personal information. The best thing to do is to simply hang up the phone.