This Fraud Awareness Month, the Ontario Provincial Police urge people to work just as hard to protect their money as they do to get it in the first place.
Essex County OPP are highlighting it by reporting the story of a woman who was scammed out of $1,600 earlier this month.
Back on March 3, she hot an email to confirm a purchase. She knew she had not made it, so she called the customer service number in the email.
Over the course of that conversation, she was asked for her credit card and banking information. Then the person on the other end of the phone call directed her to download apps. Finally, the person wanted the victim to go to a store and buy gift cards, call them back and provide the personal identification number on the back of the card.
An alert clerk at the store stopped the scam in its tracks preventing any further losses for the victim.
Fraud is a multi-million dollar enterprise that only stops when the scammer stops making money, and police said the best defence against it is to verify any unsolicited contact, especially if they ask for personal or banking information.
Anyone with information regarding a scam can call the OPP at 1-888-310-1122, Crime Stoppers at 1-519-222-8477, or leave a message online at www.catchcrooks.com.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre can be reached at 1-888-495-8501 or online. The Competition Bureau of Canada also has a "Little Black Book of Scams" with information on fraud.
