Toronto police say they disrupted a scammer pretending to be from a telecom company from stealing nearly $3 million from an unsuspecting victim on Thursday.
After being alerted by Edmonton Police Service about a fraud in progress, Toronto police said officers were dispatched to the victim’s home to intervene.
A suspect contacted the victim and identified himself as a representative of a major telecoms company, police said.
He claimed that the company was improving services in the area and had to access the victim’s computer to check internet speed.
Police said the victim was told to install UltraViewer, an application that allows someone to access and control a computer remotely.
Shortly after, the suspect informed the victim that the computer had viruses and other problems, which he offered to remove, police said.
“The suspect then instructed the victim to access online banking, supposedly to check that no money had been withdrawn without authorization,” police allege.
That’s when officers arrived. Police said they found the victim on a video call with the suspect, who was in the process of accessing online banking.
“Officers immediately explained that the call was a scam and directed the victim not to transfer money or authorize any transactions,” police said.
“The suspects disconnected the video call when officers attempted to speak with them.”
Police said the victim almost lost $2.9 million. They reminded the public not to install remote-access software at the direction of an unexpected caller and never access online banking while someone you do not trust has remote access.
“You do not need to be certain a call is fraudulent before ending it. Pause and verify before giving anyone access to your computer or your money,” police said.
