PAGE 3 - Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Workshop puts fraud awareness on business radar By Brett Smith Staff Reporter
RCMP hosted a fraud awareness information session at the Battlefords Chamber of Commerce Friday afternoon for local businesses. Cst. Ginette Rochon, who has been in the Battlefords for three years, led the seminar teaching businesses what to look for if their employees suspect fraudulent activity. The lesson started with tips on how to recognize counterfeit bills with the release of the new polymer-based notes. Rochon instructed the attendees to apply the “feel, look and flip” technique. Examples for fraudulent cheques and debit cards were also presented to show businesses what to look for in order to protect themselves. Debit cards brought up the fact employees needed
Cst. Ginette Rochon led a fraud awareness seminar for local business Friday afternoon at the Battlefords Chamber of Commerce. Photo by Brett Smith
to be watched as well. Items such as debit card skimmers are small, easily-concealed devices customer service representatives can use to steal information from a customer’s card when they are not looking. Rochon suggested to always keep your card in sight as these criminals will attempt to divert your attention from what they are attempting to do. Other tips presented to keep safe from fraud was to avoid doing any type of shopping or banking on computers used by the public. These activities should be saved for home to nullify the risk of having information stolen from the computer. A major focus of the seminar was the increase of fraud attempts with the improvement of technology. Rochon explained how there have been emails from familiar institutions asking to update personal information and providing a link to their
website. She said many of these instances are scams and in order to not become a victim, people who receive these notices should contact the company or go to their website independently. Rochon also stressed many of these companies, especially banks, will contact an individual over the telephone if the claims are legitimate. If there is any suspicion of foul play, call the company to verify an email was sent. If someone does fall victim to fraud, it is important to report what happened to the police immediately. Rochon said about five per cent of incidents do not get reported because the victims are embarrassed they fell for the scam. Rochon instructed the attendees to go to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre website at www.antifraudcentre.ca to report a scam if they have not been victimized.
Scams, rip offs, identity theft and other things to watch out for By John Cairns Staff Reporter
There are all kinds of schemes out there trying to part you from your money. Grandparent scams, travel and credit card debt offers, power of attorney abuse and other rip offs and frauds are among the activities people are being warned about by police during Fraud Awareness Month. These are some of the things Brian Trainor, retired Saskatoon police officer, is warning people about. Trainor is an expert on the various common scams making the rounds. One twist to be aware of is what Trainor describes as a “grandparent scam.” This is a situation where a grandparent gets a call on the telephone from someone claiming their grandkids are in jail or in a lot of trouble, and are demanding bail money be wired to them right away. As part of the scam, Trainor said, the grandparents are also persuaded not to phone up the parents, either, in case it upsets them. Trainor says any request to wire money anywhere should be an instant red flag. “Any time you hear the word ‘wire’, it’s a scam,” he said. “When you wire money, you have to provide a money transfer number, and they will ask for that number and they use that number to retrieve the money transfer.” In legitimate cases you would send money and you would provide them with a transfer number and you would provide identification, he said. “The problem is anyone can get the money anywhere in the world. You wire them the money and give them the transfer number, and it’s picked up in London, England and Paris, France by
someone with stolen ID.” Trainor said he had investigated something similar on Kijiji described as an “overpayment” scam, where he receives too much money and is required to wire back the difference. The victim thought he was wiring the money to Detroit, but it actually went to London England and was picked up by someone with an Italian passport, which was reported stolen. “It’s identity theft and if it’s ‘wire me money’ it’s a scam. Absolutely a scam,” said Trainor. Another common scam, and one many in this area are by now familiar with, is the “computer scam.” The gist of the scam is that someone will call or send an email claiming to be from Microsoft and say your computer is infected, and ask for passwords and information in order to download software to clean it off. There are also familiar scams where emails are sent, claiming to be from reputable companies such as SaskTel or the banks, claiming your email or computer is infected, or your account is suspended or something along those lines and then asking for personal information. “Most people don’t fall for it, but some people do,” said Trainor. “Just know that companies like Microsoft or banks, or the federal government, won’t contact you through an email to get personal information, they’ll phone you or ask you to contact them.” They don’t ask for personal information over the phone, he said, because they know people are leery of this sort of thing going on. “If you get an unsolicited phone call or email, don’t reply to it,” said Trainor. Also, “don’t click on a link to an email because the link is to a page the scammers have made.” Just delete it,
Trainor said. Those are the two biggest ones right now but there are others to watch out for, and Trainor says they change from week to week. Power of attorney abuse has become an issue Trainor says, because baby boomers are retiring with life insurance and pension policies with money in them. Increasingly, there have been cases of people with power of attorney helping themselves to the finances and keeping it all for themselves. “These crooks are coming out of the woodwork,” he said. He advises people to get “an enduring power of attorney, one that carries on after you’ve lost mental capacity. You need to go see a lawyer, do not go to an office-supply store and buy one off the shelf. These are tailor made, you need to put things in there that aren’t in these standard forms.” Pick two power-of-attorneys, as well, Trainor advises and if they are your offspring, make sure they are good with money and make sure you can trust them. As well, make sure those with power of attorney “accountable to somebody, that’s probably the key. They have to show somebody your bank statement,” said Trainor. There are other scams and offers people should watch out for. Among the dicey ones are automated phone calls claiming to be able to do something about your credit card debt. The problem with those offers, Trainor says, is “you have to pay a fee.” And that is the catch. You have to be leery about calls from people soliciting you to “pay a fee to win money or to help you,” he says. “If it’s to win money it’s a scam, if it’s to help you out it could be a legitimate busi-
ness, but they’re not being upfront with you.” He considers it a “grey area” and advises people to do their homework in those cases and use Google and other searches to find out exactly what the cost would be and all the information they can on names, company names and so on. Trainor notes there is a scam going around where people claiming to be auto brokers advertise and claim they can guarantee your vehicle will be sold but they want $500 wired in advance. “And of course if you wire to them $500 you never hear from them again.” Another grey area is automated phone calls from people claiming you have won a free cruise in the Caribbean. The problem is all the other costs, and things, they don’t mention about the trip. “They’re not illegal, but they’re not being up front,” said Trainor. What happens is they may send you a plane ticket for a cruise from Miami, but the ticket is a “companion”
ticket where someone else must join you on the trip and pay the full fare. Also, it may only be a one-way ticket, which means you’ll have to sit through a timeshare pre-
sentation just to get a ticket home — and the timeshares cost $15,000 to $25,000. It’s not exactly a scam, said Trainor, but “they don’t tell you a lot of things.”
newsoptimist.ca Last week’s News-Optimist online poll: Spring has sprung. What’s your biggest beef? ✓ The pot holes. 66.7% ✓ The lack of sanding in City-owned parking lots. 4.8% ✓ Icy sidewalks. 9.5% ✓ Drivers splashing pedestrians. 19.0%
This week’s News-Optimist online poll: There’s been a rash of vehicle tampering in North Battleford lately. What do you think is the best deterrent to potential theft or vandalism? ✓ Always lock your vehicle doors. ✓ Don’t leave tempting items in your vehicle. ✓ Park in highly visible places. ✓ Use a car alarm. ✓ Stay home.
Visit www.newsoptimist.ca to vote on the poll and read the latest news. Follow Battlefords News-Optimist on Facebook and BfordsNewsOpt on Twitter.