TORONTO -- A 26-year-old man has been charged in connection with a phone scam in which police say a person pretended to be a federal officer and tricked people into withdrawing large amounts of money.
According to Toronto police, a man pretending to be an investigator with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police called an unspecified number of people and asked for their assistance.
“The man made demands to his victims to withdraw large sums of money and purchase various gift cards to various retailers,” police said in a news release issued on Wednesday.
“The victims would then be instructed to provide the gift card information to the man over the telephone.”
On Tuesday, officers from the Toronto Police Service’s Financial Crimes Unit and the Hamilton Police Service executed a search warrant and took one person into custody.
Hamilton resident Emre Suna has been charged with three counts of fraud over $5,000 and three counts of possessing proceeds obtained by crime over $5,000.
He is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 27.
Police say they believe there may be more victims and are asking anyone with information to reach out to investigators or contact Crime Stoppers anonymously.
