Vancouver Fire warns of money-grabbing phone scam

Vancouver Fire is warning people to be weary of fake phone calls demanding they give money to the department.

The warning comes after the city recieved a complaint about an alleged call, which was then reported to Vancouver Fire.

Captain Matt Trudeau with Vancouver Fire says the service will never contact the public for any kind of payment over the phone.

“We do have different programs where our fire prevention (service does) call building owners and building managers regarding fire safety inspections,” he said.

“Do those crews ever ask for any sort of payment? No, that doesn’t happen.”

According to Trudeau, it’s also not the first time the fire department has been caught up in a scam.

“Four or five years ago, people were trying to pretend they were fire prevention or trying to inspect properties.”

He adds he’s not aware of anyone who has fallen victim to the scam so far.

“The people who have come to talk to us about this, they haven’t mentioned anyone who has lost money,” he said.

“The concern is if this is happening a handful of times, then there might be a lot more occurrences of people continuing to try this.”