A Nanaimo woman recently lost $1,800 in a scam on WhatsApp, prompting a warning to the public from police.

According to the Nanaimo RCMP, the fraud occurred on Feb. 13, 2023, and involved the purchase of nine Vanilla pre-paid Mastercards.

123rf

The victim told police her daughter is travelling overseas and the two of them have been using WhatsApp to communicate with each other. 

However, several weeks ago her daughter told her that her WhatsApp account had been blocked and to start using Instagram to communicate with her.

On Feb. 13, the victim received a text on WhatsApp from who she thought was her daughter, and mistakenly believed it was again ok to resume using WhatsApp to communicate. 

In the conversation, her daughter had her believe that she had recently dropped her smart phone in a toilet, and needed $1,800 to purchase a new one. 
The fraudster directed the victim to purchase nine Vanilla pre-paid Mastercards at gas stations and at Wal-Mart.

“The clerk at each location warned her that it appeared she was being scammed. The victim, however, overlooked the warning signs because in her mind she was simply helping her daughter out of a bind,” said R/Cst Gary O’Brien of the Nanaimo RCMP.

Once the cards were purchased, the victim sent the 10-digit codes from each card through WhatsApp. The fraudster then tried to convince her to send more money. 

Only then did the victim realize she was being scammed and broke off communication and reported it to the police.