spam phone calls canada

Police say phone scam callers now have OPP as call display

Phone call scams have seen a major surge in Canada in recent months, and it seems scammers just keep finding new ways to trick victims into handing over their money. 

The latest development affects residents of Ontario directly, as it was just announced that scammers now have the ability to program call displays to say "Ontario Provincial Police."

"Scammers are programming call displays to say 'Ontario Provincial Police' as a #Fraud tactic," the OPP announced on Twitter this past weekend.

"If you receive a call like this, hang up. Never provide personal information including ID numbers, passwords or financial info."

The tweet also includes a video with a sample of the audio often heard in scam calls. 

It features an automated voice threatening legal action against the caller, telling them they must press 1 to speak to an officer immediately.

"Ignoring this would be an intentional attempt to avoid initial appearances before the majestry, judge or jury," the robotic voice says.

The video also states that over 100,000 people were victims of fraud in Canada in 2018.

"While scammers prey on the eldery, everyone is at risk," the video warns. "To protect yourself, just hang up."

Last month, The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC), put out an announcement warning Canadians of fraudulent callers.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has now given the telecom industry until December 19 to come up with systems that block or filter out some of these fraudulent phone calls.

Here's hoping the new call blocking technology kicks in soon enough. 

Lead photo by

OPP


Latest Videos



Latest Videos


Join the conversation Load comments

Latest in Tech

Rogers and Yahoo account holders can claim hundreds of dollars in settlement

New decision could soon give Canadians faster and cheaper internet

Subscription and membership services that hiked prices in Canada this year

Disney+ increasing prices and here's how much more Canadians have to pay

Rogers takes heat for 'bait and switch' price increases

Canada making it a priority to get telecoms to offer 'affordable' mobile phone plans

Assassin's Creed concert with live symphony coming to Toronto

Fido increases prices of its phone plans in Canada for the second time in a month