York Regional Police are investigating a series of phone scams — targeting seniors and the Southeast Asian-Canadian community — that defrauded several people of amounts ranging from several hundred dollars to $65,000 Canadian.

Callers originally claimed to be officials with the Canada Revenue Agency — but they’ve switched tack and now claim to be Canadian immigration officers. In both cases, they claim that misfiled or incorrect paperwork could result in jail time or deportation for their victims — and that money transfers via wire are the only way to avoid repercussions.

The scam has been going on for several months. Numerous reports of this scam — dating back several months — have been made to York Regional Police and several victims have come forward.

“They’re after vulnerable people who they think are going to fall for it,” said York Regional Police Const. Andy Pattenden. New Canadians or seniors are more likely to be trusting or unaware of proper procedure and wire the money, he said.

There’s no way of knowing how many people are involved with the scam at the moment — or even whether they’re calling from within Canada. “They could be calling from anywhere in the world,” Pattenden said.

He urged anyone who’s been scammed in this way to report it to police — no matter how embarrassed they feel. Many victims of fraud cases don’t speak up about it, he said.

Anyone who has been scammed but didn’t lose money is asked to contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501. If you did lose money, contact the York Regional Police Major Fraud Unit at 1-866-876-5423 extension 6627.