$5K lost to scammer posing as Netflix comedian

Comedian Matt Rife is pictured. (Source: X/ @mattrife)

Guelph Police say a resident lost $5,000 to a person posing as well-known comedian.

The victim told police they were contacted online by someone pretending to be Matt Rife.

They claimed they were having banking issues and asked the victim to deposit a cheque for them. In return, the message sender promised to pay off the victim’s credit card.

Police said the scammer deposited a fake cheque for $5,000 into the victim’s account after the victim handed over their banking information.

The victim then withdrew the money and put it into Bitcoin.

It was only then, police said, the victim’s bank flagged the fraudulent cheque and advised them their bank account had been compromised.

The so-called comedian continued to contact the victim, who did not respond to their messages.

Police said the incident has been reported to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.