South Bruce OPP urge public to be cautious of fraudulent encounters

(SOUTHERN BRUCE COUNTY, ON) - The South Bruce OPP is warning residents to be cautious of fraudulent encounters by telephone, on-line, or other means.

This year, to date, the South Bruce OPP has received 26 fraud-related reports. Some of the interactions included:
 

• Two incidents of identity theft, credit cards opened and charged under victims names; losses of $12,000 and $5,000
• On-line pop-up claiming to be computer repair, led to the victim sending funds; loss of $1,000
• Two incidents of calls from scammers posing as employees of a financial institution, scammers tricked the victims into surrendering banking log-in details; loss of $15,500 and $2,000
• Two incidents of cat-fishing, one scammer promoting a celebrity meet and greet, the other claiming to be the heiress of a large inheritance; near loss of $7,000 and loss of $100,000
• On-line marketplace advertisement requesting to be paid up front for an item, user was a fraudulent account and sent a false address for pick-up; loss of $140
• Scammer posing as a government agency requesting banking information; luckily, the resident was suspicious of the activity and contacted police first

Legitimate businesses or government agencies will never ask you to send them codes for gift cards. Scammers use various technologies to appear through your call display as a financial institution, government agency, etc.

Scammers will send E-mails disguised as government agencies and financial institutions that appear fairly legitimate; do not click on any links or call the instructed phone numbers until you can verify that they are from the true source. Do not hesitate to attend your financial institution to confirm the contact you received.

Scams are attempted daily by phone, E-mail, social media, text message, on-line pop-ups, and traditional mail. Largely, frauds are preventable. Remember that you can't win a contest you never entered. If something seems too good to be the true, it likely is. We can defeat fraud by working together.

For more information, visit the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at www.antifraudcentre.ca.