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“Service Canada, how can I help you,” the scammer said.

The officer, who did not identify himself during the call, replied he was “wondering what’s happening.” The fraudster asked for Rutherford’s name, but he said, “you already have my name.”

After the caller said they need a name for “verification purposes,” the officer pressed the scammer for his location.

After a few moments of dead air, the caller hung up. Rutherford admitted he wasn’t surprised the caller backed down, but wished the call dragged on longer for “educational purposes.”

“You see reports of these people online being aggressive, using profanity, saying, ‘you have a warrant for your arrest’ and it would be nice to see some of that (in the video),” he said.

The constable said anyone who gets a scam call should not give out their personal information and immediately end the call.

“He was questioned on the questions he was asking me and probably, unfortunately, moved on to the next victim.”

The suspects and criminals doing this are across the globe

Rutherford’s encounter with the scammer comes as police in India busted a call centre targetting Canadians by exploiting social insurance numbers. It’s unclear, however, whether the two incidents are related.

Sameer Sharma, a New Delhi deputy police commissioner, said in a release in recent days that the force arrested 32 people between the ages of 19 and 37 after discovering the “swanky international scam call centre targeting Canadian citizens.”

The officers also seized 55 computers, 35 cell phones and other equipment including the scripts that the scammers used during calls.