The police are once again warning Vancouver residents about a scam targeting seniors after losing tens of thousands of dollars just this week.

In a press release on Thursday, the Vancouver Police Department said the "bail money" scam has resurfaced.

The police said it involves scammers posing as police officers and deceiving seniors by convincing them to hand over bail money for their loved ones who have been arrested.

Sergeant Steve Addison said, "This is a new type of VPD scam that people were first told about earlier this year."

Addison said that so far this week, officers have received five reports from seniors who were either scammed or contacted by scammers.

Addison said, "We believe there are a number of scammers working together, and they likely use social media to find personal details about their victims." "Scammers often know the names of the victims' family members, and in a recent case, they knew that a relative of the victim was on vacation in another country."

In one case this week, police said a man claiming to be a police officer called a 61-year-old woman from Kitsilano on Tuesday morning and said her nephew was in jail.

He convinced the woman to hand over $15,000 in cash in exchange for a "gag order."

Another incident on the same day involved a 70-year-old woman living downtown who received a call from someone claiming to be a police officer.

The scammer demanded $10,000 in bail money, claiming the victim's niece was in a car accident and marijuana was found in her possession.

The police said the victim met the scammer and handed over the amount. The next day, the scammer reportedly tried to convince the woman to hand over another $45,000, but a bank teller convinced the victim to call the police.

In another incident on Tuesday, a caller pretending to be a responsible officer told a 74-year-old man from Renfrew Heights to pay $11,000 as bail for his son, whom the scammer claimed was found in a car with drugs.

In this case, the senior did not believe the story and told the scammer he was calling 911.

The police said, on Wednesday morning, that a woman in her eighties from Kerrisdale received a call from two men, one claiming to be the woman's grandson and the other claiming to be a police officer.

The scammers convinced the elderly woman to pay $12,000 to get her grandson out of jail after being arrested for marijuana.

Addison said, "Scammers often convince their victims not to talk to others by implying there is a gag order in place, or by telling them to use a code word when handing over the money."

The Vancouver Police Department requests anyone with information about this scam or similar ones to come forward to the police department.