Right on cue for the start of Fraud Prevention Month, the Sunshine Coast RCMP this week reported incidents involving four separate telephone scams – two of them resulting in unwitting victims being stung for sums of money and one in which the fraudsters boldly pose as police.
On Feb. 23, a resident trying to sell an item on an online classifieds site was targeted by a bogus buyer who sent a cheque for an amount that was several times the asking price. RCMP describe it as the common “overpayment” scam. Luckily, the resident’s bank flagged the bad cheque before the victim could transfer the “excess funds.”
The next day, a resident fell for the common computer updating scam, transferring money for updating fees to a thief pretending to work for Microsoft, or whoever. The same day, another resident fell for the equally common Canada Revenue Agency scam. This poor soul not only fell for the scam and transferred a large sum of money to the crook – she also complied with his instructions to not tell anyone what she was doing and to stay on the phone until the transfer was complete. She even disclosed her social insurance number.
Now, in a new twist, the Sunshine Coast RCMP is warning the public that its own non-emergency number has been appearing on targeted individuals’ call display. Fraudsters employing Internet phone technology are running a variation of the Canada Revenue Agency scam, this time posing as police officers with the local detachment and threatening arrest if “taxes owing” are not paid immediately.
These swindlers are slick and aggressive and can sound very convincing.
And it’s not just residential telephone customers who are being targeted. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) said Tuesday that fraudsters have scammed 20 per cent of Canadian small businesses in the past year. CFIB calls the finding “alarming” and plans to release a full report on March 17. The aim is to help small businesses protect themselves against such schemes as directory fraud, email phishing and payment fraud.
Awareness and good judgment are the keys to prevention. One new website about online fraud and identity theft is www.ikeepittomyself.com and the name says it all. Launched this month by three banks, the site notes that an identity is worth 10 times more on the black market than a credit card number. Especially sensitive personal information includes your birth date, bank account number, social insurance number and password.
Be careful what you put out there – including on social media – because common scams seem to be getting more common every day.
