Someone Tried To Scam The Family Of A Missing Canadian Man Out Of $7,000

They said he would be killed if they didn't get the money.
Senior Writer

The family of a missing man in Nova Scotia was the target of a scam when someone tried to con them out of $7,000.

In a Facebook post, the province's RCMP said that one of Zachary Lefave's family members got a text message on January 12 telling them that he was still alive.

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$7,000 amount of money someone tried to scam the family out of

The text message, which was "in somewhat dis-jointed English" according to police, said that the missing man would be released if they sent $7,000 in gift cards

It also said he would be killed if they didn't get the money.

Instead of sending money, the family contacted the police right away and an investigation found that the text appeared to come from different places in North America and Africa.

It's believed that the scammer found the phone number after it was posted on social media to help find the missing man.

RCMP also said that they used a VPN to disguise their location.

Lefave was last seen on New Years Day.

  • Senior Writer

    Lisa Belmonte (she/her) is a Senior Writer with Narcity Media. After graduating with a Bachelor of Journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University), she joined the Narcity team. Lisa covers news and notices from across the country from a Canada-wide perspective. Her early coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic earned Narcity its first-ever national journalism award nomination.

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