Hit and run and scam responded to by Sechelt RCMP

Over the past week, multiple incidents reported to the Sechelt RCMP were responded to.

On August 3rd, a hit and run was reported at the 5500 block of Inlet Avenue, Sechelt at around 1pm. A grey sedan abruptly ‘slammed’ on its brakes, and another car rear ended it. The driver of the second vehicle remained on scene to exchange information, but the sedan reportedly ‘drove away without stopping.’ 

The second driver could only obtain one half of the sedan’s license plate number, but described the driver as ‘a male in his fifties wearing a green ball cap.’ Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to call the Sechelt’s RCMP’s non-emergency line and reference file 2021-5263.

On the same day, a ‘coast resident’ clicked on a pop-up ad while downloading a document. After clicking on it, the resident’s computer seemed to freeze. Another pop-up claimed the user’s computer was at risk and that they should call the posted number immediately for computer-tech assistance. The resident followed the instructions and was connected to an ‘tech agent’ who seemingly unfroze his computer. 

The resident realized that the call was suspicious after requests to pull up his bank account and being questioned about his financial history. The resident hung up and contacted all of his banks, cancelling their accounts, and requested new bank and credit cards as well. The RCMP says this is a very common type of long-running scam. Tips on how to avoid them are available here.