The latest weekly report from the Kitimat RCMP highlighted multiple crimes from the community in the past week. These crimes included scams, hit-and-run incidents, and other recent activity within the area.
The week started off on Apr. 24 with a local resident who fell victim to an email scam. According to police, the victim believed they were talking to their boss, who asked them to buy Apple gift cards as part of a surprise employee recognition program. The later conversations moved to a different messaging app where he asked to send images of the gift cards and their activation codes. This was continued until they realized it was all a scam and reported it. The fraudster used an IP address that was registered overseas.
The next day, another resident was almost scammed out of his phone. The victim received a package and a phone call asking if they would like to keep the phone, as it had been sent to them accidentally by a telecommunications company. Police state that the scam took an interesting twist when the return address was different from the actual sender’s address.
The RCMP also investigated a hit and run case that occurred on Apr. 27 at Mountainview Square’s 500 block, where a vehicle that was parked was hit by another vehicle and sustained damages. A file number was provided to the victim for insurance purposes, and police canvassed the scene for CCTV footage.
On Apr. 29, on Kitamaat Village Road, Kitimat RCMP conducted a check stop where 80 cars were checked. In total, four infractions were made, which include one uninsured vehicle, two people driving without proof of insurance, and one person without a driver’s license.
Police are reminding residents to stay alert for scams and ensure their documents are up to date as enforcement increases this spring.
