ESTEVAN - The Estevan Police Service is investigating after a woman lost thousands of dollars through a scam on Facebook.
According to the EPS, the victim was contacted by someone she thought was a friend on Facebook. This friend was a fake profile created in the name of one of her Facebook friends. The fake friend profile put her in contact with an individual that she could collect a prize from.
In order to get the prize the victim was convinced to buy Apple iTunes cards and forward the numbers to the scammer. The victim has reportedly lost thousands of dollars.
Police say if you have to pay money to get a prize, the prize is not legitimate. Police are also asking the public to talk to their family members about potential scams to educate each other. Quite often the victims of these crimes are elderly people being taken advantage of.
The EPS received another report of an attempted scam. The complainant received a correspondence from a solicitor in the United Kingdom, indicating the complainant was the beneficiary to an estate overseas. The EPS says this is a common scam attempt to generate correspondence and exchange of personal information to use to scam the victim. The complainant didn’t respond to the scammers but reported it to police for informational purposes.
Police received a report of theft of property from a local business. The matter is still under investigation.
Members were called to a local liquor establishment for a report of a male causing a disturbance after he was asked to leave. He was located and arrested for being intoxicated in a public place and lodged in cells until he was sober.
Police conducted a curfew check on an Estevan resident who is on probation. The 29-year-old woman was not home as per her conditions and charges are now pending.
