Middletown Police on Alert for Canadian Scam

The has issued a public alert to warn of a long distance phone scam that targeted a local resident within the last few days.

A Middletown resident reported to police that their household was contacted by a person in Canada whose phone number came up on caller ID as 514-365-3558, according to an announcement released from Middletown Police Department spokesman Lt. Robert Nutt on Wednesday.

The caller told the Middletown resident that her grandson had been involved in a drunk driving motor vehicle accident in Canada and that he was in jail. The caller requested that the citizen wire $3,000 to an account that would pay the bail and release of the rental car and that the grandson would be released.

The Middletown resident became suspicious and contacted her grandson, who was found to not be in Canada. The local resident immediately contacted Middletown police.

According to Lt. Nutt, the scenario fit the description of a worldwide scam that has originated from this same telephone number in Canada.

Middletown police investigators urge anyone who receives a similar call to refuse to give out personal information and hang up on the caller, then contact the at 401-846-1144 or another local police department.