A member of the Ontario Provincial Police North Bay detachment responded to a fraud complaint in Mattawa Nov. 30. The complainants were defrauded of $900.
The suspects contacted the complainants, advised that they were from a local bank and were conducting an investigation into fraud at the Mattawa branch in conjunction with the RCMP. The suspects asked them to withdraw money and send a wire transfer from a different bank to Thailand.
The suspects were able to acquire credit card and bank information from the complainants.
Const. Bowman of the Mattawa OPP detachment, who previously worked in the Fraud Bureau for Peel Regional Police, has some advice to keep yourself safe from fraud:
“If you are contacted about fraud on your bank accounts/credit cards, contact your bank(s) directly and do not speak with the people who initiated the contact. Additionally, police or legitimate bank personnel will never work secretively and will always give a phone extension where they can be contacted via published phone numbers.”
Bowman also provided some hints that you may be being scammed:
“Out of place accents, odd background noise during phone calls, similar sounding voices, company logos that look slightly different, crooked or fuzzy, spelling mistakes on websites, or oddly phrased statements.”
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre advises to always be careful about providing confidential personal information, especially banking or credit card details unless you are certain the company is legitimate. And, if you have doubts about a caller, your best defence is to simply hang up. It’s not rude – it’s smart.
If you’ve been defrauded of money, report the incident to your local police service.
If you’ve been contacted by an individual for fraudulent purposes but have not been defrauded of money, provide the information to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
Read the full story over at Nugget.ca
