A man in East Mills Township was the victim of a $9,000 fraud Saturday, when scammers told him to withdraw his funds and purchase iTunes gift cards.

Officers from the North Bay detachment of the Ontario Provincial police responded to the call. The man reported that he received a phone call telling him that his bank account may have been compromised, and that he should protect his money while they investigated.

The unknown callers then told the man to withdraw all his money from his bank account and use it to purchase iTunes gift cards, calling him repeatedly throughout this time.

At one point during this process, according to police, the man was warned by a cashier that he may have been involved in a fraud. The man purchased $9,000 worth of gift cards from several area stores.

The victim then gave the security number for the cards to the scammer, before going to the Powassan OPP Detachment.

In a release, the North Bay OPP detachment said “If you are asked to pay for any service or product with an iTunes gift card or any gift card, don’t do it! It’s a scam!”

“Scammer use intimidating and threatening language and don’t give you time to react or think about what they are asking,” the release said.

“The key to stopping these frauds is through prevention and by talking about it with your family members and friends.”