Spotting and Avoiding Scams

Submitted by Karen Wilson

On Tuesday, June 16, the Meaford Public Library joined with the Meaford 55+ Club in hosting an anti-fraud/anti-scam presentation at the Meaford Community Centre.

The presenter was OPP Provincial Constable Alina Grelik of the Grey County West Region Detachment. Constable Grelik has 25 years of policing experience, 22 years of which were served on the road. Her focus is now on Community Services/Media Relations.

In 2014 Grey County saw 127 reported frauds/scams, and already in 2015, Grey County has had 71 reported occurrences of frauds and scams.

Constable Grelik’s presentation to the group was based on the different types of common scams that can affect seniors in our community. “Knowledge is power,” she told the group so with that in mind, the focus was on recognizing a fraud, reporting it and stopping it.

Seniors are often the target of the scams because they often feel afraid if threatened. The senior may be lonely and lack family support. Hearing loss or dementia may impede the understanding of what is being asked of them over the telephone. Unfortunately, many seniors are trusting and feel the need to be polite even if it is to a complete stranger on their doorstep or at the other end of the telephone line. When realization finally occurs that they have been scammed out of their hard earned dollars, the senior is often too embarrassed to report it to the OPP.

Embarrassment aside, the police would still like to be informed of all scams occurring in the area.

Some of the scams discussed at the meeting were:

• Inheritance scam: In this scam the senior received a letter from a person in another country reporting that according to their research, they are the only surviving relative eligible to receive monies from the estate of a deceased distant relative. They request that monies be sent via Western Union or money gram to a broker to get the funds out of escrow. Once monies are sent, you can not get it back.

• Lottery Scam: A letter or email is sent telling you that you have won a lottery. Time is on your side to validate information. If you did not buy a ticket, you likely did not win.

• Grandparent Emergency: This is a nasty scam that preys on the heart strings and emotions of a senior by pretending to be a grandchild who is now in a Quebec jail cell and needs money to be sent to his/her “lawyer” to get out of jail. It is advised that you call the grandchild’s cell phone or phone his/her parents to verify the child’s whereabouts.

• Canada Revenue Agency: This scam is highlighted on the Canada Revenue website. The scammers generally claim you are in arrears and threaten the senior with an arrest warrant if a money gram is not sent immediately to cover the arrears.

• Computer Fraud: Persons pretending to be employed by Microsoft tell the homeowner that they have a computer virus and for the nominal sum of $99.99 they can fix the virus. They ask for the password and take control of the computer often electronically moving money in the owners accounts. Seniors were advised, in this case, to unplug the computer or in the case of a laptop to remove the battery pack.

• Kijiji: False ads are occasionally posted on Kijiji where the item is often not available locally to be seen. Monies are asked to be sent to a “broker” who will handle the international transaction. When the goods fail to appear, the buyer will often be surprised later when told the goods were “damaged in shipment”.

• Service scams: including water filtration system scams. In this scam, a person arrives unannounced at the door and talks their way into your home. A gadget is attached to your faucet and is supposed to make your drinking water better. Feeling vulnerable, the senior is requested to pay hundreds of dollars yet the device does nothing.

• Bank scam: This scam recognizes the innate goodness in most seniors and falsely identifies themselves as a bank internal affairs employee trying to catch a bank employee who they believe is involved in criminal practices. They ask the senior to help them trap the employee so he/she can be brought to justice. They ask that an amount of money be withdrawn from the bank then handed over to the internal affairs officer in a nearby parking lot. Banks do not ever ask private citizens to put themselves in harms way by participating in a sting operation.

• Dating/Romance scam: This is the number reported to police. It preys on the emotions of the often lonely senior as a “relationship” is built over the course of time via the Internet. Thousands of dollars are innocently sent overseas to help out their new romantic interest.

Attendees were reminded not to disclose personal information via the telephone or email, and of course, if it is too good to be true, it probably is.