A woman refused to do what a fake bank caller told her, and 20 minutes later the scammer called back telling her to ‘go to your front door’
The scam caller said they had a surprise outside
A woman has claimed that she was left shaken after a scam caller allegedly sent armed police to her home in Nova Scotia. Lynn Clark Colpitts said she refused to comply with what the scam caller was telling her to do, which allegedly prompted the person on the other end of the phone to threaten her before calling back 20 minutes later and telling her to go to her front door.
Clark Colpitts told CBC News that she received a call from a woman claiming to be from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) fraud department. The woman allegedly told Clark Colpitts that someone had applied for credit in her name and advised her to download an app called CIBC Guard to block it.
Clark Colpitts said that she felt uncomfortable giving banking information over the phone and contacted a work colleague who told her to contact her branch before doing anything.
“I told her politely, I said I’m sorry I have to go by what my IT guy told me to do. And then she used some profanity toward me,” Clark Colpitts said. “She called me a f—ing b—h, twice, and then hung up on me.”
The scam caller allegedly sent police to Clark Colpitts’ house
20 minutes after the woman hung up on Clark Colpitt, she said she got a call back. When she picked up, it was the scam caller again. “She calls me back and says, ‘I’ve got a surprise for you. Go to your front door. There’s a surprise waiting for you there.’ And I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’”
When she stepped outside, she said she saw heavily armed police outside. The officers were from two departments: the Colchester District RCMP and the Truro Police. Clark Colpitts said that police shouted at her, asking for her name, before telling her to go down to the end of the driveway while they searched the property.
She also said she tried to explain the situation and also held her phone up to officers so they could hear the scam caller, who continued to call during the police search. Officers later told Clark Colpitts that someone had called in a hostage-taking and shooting at her address.
Staff Sgt. Marc Rose, commander of Colchester District RCMP said that the call “appears to be a level of retribution by the fraudsters in this case.” He added that the fraudster did it “to cause her harm and pain and distress by having the police respond to her residence all because she didn’t follow the original instructions on the phone.”
The charges for swatting
The act of calling a false report on a property to prompt an emergency response is more commonly referred to as “swatting.” Cases in the past have seen livestreamers have their house raided by armed police.
According to adhillonlaw.com, it is an offense to call in a false report and can lead to criminal charges such as public mischief. Other charges could also apply depending on what occurred during the police response.
“I would argue that this is a form of terrorism,” CEO and co-founder of Beauceron Security, David Shipley, told CBC. He also claimed that Clark Colpitt’s case was the first time he’d heard of a scam call escalating to swatting. “This seems like a criminal who was definitely not having a good day and decided to dramatically escalate the dangerousness and seriousness of this situation,” he said.
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