The Belleville Police Service responded to 65 calls for service from March 16th, 2021 at 5:00 a.m. to March 17th, 2021 at 5:00 a.m.
Scammers at it Again
Belleville, ON – The Belleville Police Service would like the public to be aware of a phone scam that is circulating in the Belleville area. The scam targets “grandparents” and involves a suspect who calls the victim pretending to be their grandchild. The suspect sounds upset and makes some type of claim of being arrested by the police and needing some money to bail them out of jail. The phone is then turned over to a second suspect who pretends to be a police officer who confirms the story about their grandchild being arrested and that a certain sum of money would have to be forwarded before bail could be granted. The suspects rely on pressure tactics by saying the money is required now before their grandchild is sent off to jail and unfortunately some people have fallen for this scam and have lost large sums of money. Police are reminding the public to be vigilant when receiving similar type calls requesting large sums of money to be forwarded as the police and most other agencies do not make these types of financial requests. The suspects can obtain certain amounts of information through social media and can get enough names and basic information to sound very convincing on the phone. Contact your local police service should you receive a call regarding this or any other phone scam or contact the RCMP Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501.
