The phone-return scam that has cost Ontario victims thousands has reached Vancouver Island, with local losses already topping $33,000.
Sidney/North Saanich RCMP say multiple residents have been hit in recent weeks, according to the Peninsula News Review. West Shore RCMP issued its own warning last week, calling it a multi-step bait and switch.
Fraudsters posing as carrier staff call with a free upgrade or loyalty reward, collect your account details and order a real phone in your name. Once it arrives, they call back claiming the wrong device was shipped and send a prepaid label or QR code for the return. That label points to the scammers, often a PO box outside the province.
Victims stay on the hook because the phone was legitimately ordered on their own account. RCMP say victims end up without the device but still responsible for the contract, financing or monthly payments.
This isn’t B.C.’s first brush with it, either. Over the summer, we reported on a B.C. Rogers customer who owed more than $4,000 for two iPhones ordered in her name. Rogers said the phones passed its ID checks and were shipped to a non-Rogers address. It waived her fees, but not the devices.
It’s the same playbook we’ve been tracking for months. This week, a Sudbury woman was left owing nearly $17,000 after scammers posing as Rogers had her order six devices, and Ontario police have been sounding the alarm since the summer. Rogers says it warns customers through website alerts, shipping emails and notes in device packaging.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre says service fraud drew over $17 million in reported losses in the first half of 2026.
If someone calls offering a free upgrade, RCMP say to hang up and call your carrier yourself. Don’t share account details with an unknown caller, and check where a return label actually goes before you ship anything back.
If you think you’ve been hit, contact your carrier, then report it to local police and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. And if a “free” phone ever needs to go back to a PO box in another province, that’s your cue to hang up.
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