The defrauding of a 79-year-old woman out of roughly $20,000 prompted the Lethbridge Police Service to issue a warning to the public about a delayed disconnect phone scam.
According to police the scam uses the delay between when people hang up their phone and when the phone call ends. On Tuesday, January 9th the victim’s computer had allegedly been locked by ransomware and called what she believed to be Microsoft Support. Police say the number was the alleged fraudster, who directed her to call the number on the back of her bank card.
“After hanging up her landline to call, the line was not disconnected and someone pretending to be a bank representative told her that her account had been compromised. They then convinced her to withdraw money and put it into a Bitcoin machine.”
To avoid falling victim to this scam police are urging residents to not give out any personal information on incoming calls and to wait at least one minute after hanging up before making a new call, to ensure that the line has been cleared.
Police ask anyone who has fallen victim to the scam and not reported it to call their local department.