ELDERLY FRAUD VICTIM GETS MONEY BACK FOLLOWING INTERNATIONAL MULTI-AGENCY INTERVENTION
(RAINY RIVER DISTRICT, ON) - An elderly fraud victim can rest easy now after multiple law enforcement agencies in Europe and North America worked together to intercept a fraudulent money transfer that drained their life savings.
On June 23, 2025, the Rainy River District Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) received a 911 call from an elderly resident who thought they had just lost a large sum of money.
Investigation revealed the victim had been deceived by a quasi-emergency tech support scam. Offenders, posing as the computer manufacturer’s official tech support, convinced the victim that they had been hacked and installed software on the computer allowing remote access. The offenders continued the scam by putting the victim in contact with fake law enforcement who then provided instructions to move money to a safe account that the offenders had access to. The victim attended a local bank, and wire transferred a five-digit quantity of money into a bank in the UK.
The responding OPP officers notified the OPP Northern Ontario Anti-Rackets Branch and a team member with The Integrated Fraud Awareness and Response Initiative (IFARI) began work to intercept the wire transfer. The IFARI member activated the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center (CAFC) as well as international partner agencies which included banks and foreign law enforcement partners.
Early intervention meant that the wire transfer was able to be flagged as fraud, and it was intercepted before the offenders could access it. On July 10, 2025, the money returned to the victim.