North Bay police catch two phone scammers in the act

Two 45-year-old men, one from Oshawa and the other from Montreal, accused of defrauding two North Bay households out of thousands of dollars in a phone scheme are facing charges.

They are both are facing two fraud and one possession of stolen property charges in connection with an emergency scam that bilked one local household out of nearly $10,000, police say.

Earlier this week, officers from the North Bay Police Service responded to similar scam calls made to two local families, police said in a news release on Friday.

"The scammers claimed to be family or friends of the victims and stated that they had recently been arrested and needed money for bail. The two accused attended both households, posing as couriers, to retrieve the money," police said.

Approximately $9,500 was taken from one household, which contacted police after interacting with the accused.

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The two accused were arrested while attempting to collect money from the second family, which had called police after receiving their call.

Officer found $9,300 cash during a search and it was returned to the family it was taken from.

"The victims and accused are not known to one another," police said.

Both of the accused have been held in custody pending a bail hearing.

"If you receive a call you believe to be a scam, do not engage with the scammer and hang up. If someone claims to be a member of a police service and you believe they are attempting to scam you, request a badge number and contact the police service to verify the information," police said.

"You can educate yourself and your loved ones to spot potential scams by using the resources available from the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and learn about the most common scams and how to avoid them by reading the Little Black Book of Scams."

None of the allegations has been proven in court.