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‘Corporate Kyle’ scams Invermere business
An Invermere business ran afoul to a fraudster last week.
On January 3, at about 8:30 p.m., Columbia Valley RCMP received a report of a fraud on a commercial store in Invermere.
An employee reported that she closed the store at 6 p.m. and about a half hour later she received a call from “Kyle” from “Corporate.” The male, who had a southern accent, convinced the Invermere employee that he was a corporate employee and said that there was a product recall on some Vanilla prepaid MasterCards, reported Columbia Valley RCMP Detachment commander Sgt. Bob Vatamaniuck.
“The Invermere employee was bullied into ringing five $200 prepaid MasterCards through the till; she then provided “Kyle” the numbers on the front and back of the cards and a sequence number on each transaction printout. “Kyle” kept assuring the employee that he would take care of the $1,000 till discrepancy and eventually ended the conversation when he got what he needed,” Sgt. Vatamaniuck explained.
The Invermere employee grew concerned and eventually called police.
RCMP called the MasterCard fraud department and it advised that all five MasterCards were maxed out and used on an untraceable PayPal account.
“Kyle” left a telephone number that rang out of service providing no avenues for us to follow. This proves a reminder that if ever put in this situation, ask a lot of questions, confirm then reaffirm information and discuss with supervisors before ever giving out financial information,” Vatamaniuck stated.
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