Families and business owners in Abbotsford, B.C., are being shaken by a rise in extortion-related threats, which police say are becoming more frequent and violent.
One victim told CBC News they’ve been facing extortion threats for months, often being woken up at night with dozens of phone calls with no caller ID, random text messages and ongoing threats to shoot them.
“They’re saying give us money or watch out,” said the victim. “I’m just so scared.”
CBC News has verified the threats with Abbotsford police and is not identifying the victim due to their safety concerns.
Police in Abbotsford, which is located about 65 kilometres east of Vancouver, say they’ve received 38 reports of extortion-related incidents between November 2023 and September 2025. The majority of those cases involved non-violent methods, including threatening letters, phone calls or text messages demanding money from victims.
But in September, police say the threats appeared to be getting worse, with violence escalating to include more shootings and arson.
Police say while no one was injured, three incidents involved homes being targeted in shootings, and an alleged arson attack left several vehicles burned at a business.
Due to the escalation, the Abbotsford Police Department (AbbyPD) says it’s launched one of its largest reassignments of internal officers ever — second only to the 2021 floods — with the creation of Operation Community Shield.
“People are losing their sense of security and safety,” said Sgt. Paul Walker. “We have people that are now living in fear … we have neighbourhoods that are nervous.”
The move follows the announcement in September of a provincial task force to investigate the extortion threats and violence weighing on several B.C. communities.
In response to the rippling impacts of extortion, AbbyPD says experienced officers from several areas of the department will be reassigned both full- and part-time to the local task force.
The task force includes members from major crimes, forensics, crime analysts and teams investigating key evidence such as video footage. Some officers are now also on standby teams to immediately deal with emerging cases specific to the task force.
Two officers will also be serving on the provincial task force to communicate any crossover of extortion investigations in different cities.
“Crime that’s occurring in Abbotsford isn’t just Abbotsford. It’s occurring in other communities, and I’m confident that some of the people involved in that crime are in multi-jurisdictions,” said Walker.
Among the hardest hit communities is Surrey, where Mayor Brenda Locke said in September that police have been looking into 44 extortion cases, including 27 involving shootings.
Police stress that people being threatened with extortion should not pay, however, ongoing fears and violence have motivated some to ignore that advice, says Kash Heed, B.C.’s former public safety minister and solicitor general.
Heed says he is aware of about a dozen victims in the Lower Mainland who have paid those threatening them.
“I’m saying don’t pay [but] I can understand why they’re paying the individual — they have no confidence that law enforcement is able to protect their families or deal with it,” he said.
“We need the community to feel comfortable and that they’ll be protected.”
Police in several jurisdictions acknowledge the frustration victims feel but say extortion investigations remain complex.
“These investigations take a significant amount of time to follow, to unpack the evidence, to make sure our investigative teams have the evidence supported for charge approval,” said Walker.
Both AbbyPD and Surrey Police Service confirm that so far, no arrests or charges have been filed for extortion-related incidents.
The B.C. RCMP say there have been some arrests in the Lower Mainland, but no charges have been filed, according to spokesperson Sgt. Vanessa Munn.
In Abbotsford, Walker confirms the South Asian community is being targeted and police are working to better understand why.
He says some cases connect to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, one of a number of criminal enterprises from northern India that have spread into North America in recent years. The RCMP has also linked the gang to extortion threats in the South Asian community.
In September, the federal government listed the Lawrence Bishnoi gang as a terrorist entity, which allows more resources to be put toward combating the gang’s activities.
“The Bishnoi Gang engages in murder, shootings and arson, and generates terror through extortion and intimidation,” the statement from Public Safety Canada said.
Walker says there are other cases where the suspects are not as clear, and those investigations continue.
AbbyPD is urging residents to report suspicious activity and share information. But a key challenge in investigating extortion is the willingness of victims and the community to come forward, said Carlos Ponce, a criminology professor at the University of the Fraser Valley.
“Sometimes they believe that they are going to put themselves at more risk if they report the crime to the police,” said Ponce.
However, he says AbbyPD’s new task force is a step in the right direction for more outreach with victims.
“When you have a specialized unit that basically brings together the best-of-the-best investigators, it makes it easier. It creates more confidence … in the victims or … communities that are being targeted,” said Ponce.
For the extortion victim in Abbotsford who spoke to CBC News, the local task force is a welcome plan.
They’ve been in contact with police and hope to see more officers working on the issue. But they say they continue to live in daily fear, and ultimately, their safety rests on their shoulders.
“Really, I can’t do anything other than keeping myself safe and watching out for myself.”
