Coquitlam RCMP are warning the public, and business owners in particular, to be on the lookout for a fake physician who scammed a Coquitlam coffee shop owner.
The Mounties said that on May 7, a man posing as a doctor asked an employee of Joey Beenz Coffee Bar on Austin Avenue if he could borrow $80 to pay for a taxi ride to the hospital where his wife was being treated after being injured in a car accident.
Police said the man was well-dressed, articulate, identified himself as a doctor from a nearby clinic and appeared to know the coffee shop owner. The employee contacted the owner, who gave permission to lend the money, according to a Coquitlam RCMP press release. The doctor promised to return to repay the money but was not seen again.
The coffee shop owner called Coquitlam RCMP and provided Mounties with surveillance video showing the scammer at work.
Police described the "doctor" as a mid to late 30s Caucasian man with a shaved head, medium height and build, wearing dark-framed glasses.
The RCMP believe this scammer has targeted similar businesses in the Tri-Cities and across Metro Vancouver.
Anyone with information about the suspected scammer is asked to call the Coquitlam RCMP at 604-945-1550 or call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).
