Employee at Mission retirement home stops senior from being scammed out of $20,000: RCMP

MISSION — Mounties in Mission say a retirement home employee was instrumental in stopping a senior resident there from losing $20,000 to a scammer.

According to a statement from Mission RCMP, police were contacted by a staff member at the retirement home on Friday morning, Nov. 14, after an 82-year-old resident left with an 84-year-old male friend to deposit a $20,000 cheque into a Bitcoin ATM in Surrey.

Police say the 82-year-old woman had already previously lost another large sum of money but reportedly didn’t believe that she was being scammed. Ironically, the woman’s male friend also reportedly lost a large amount of money to scams over the past few years. One of the scammers persuaded the male that he could help get the woman’s money back if she deposited $20,000 at the Bitcoin ATM in Surrey.

An officer from Mission RCMP reached the male by phone, and was able to convince him to pull over and meet with police before leaving Mission. The officer spoke with both the male and female, as well as a family member of the female, and became concerned for the woman’s ability to make sound decisions for herself.