Moose Jaw Times-Herald: Weekend Extra: Stay informed to avoid getting scammed

People need to be cautious and stay informed of
scams to avoid getting scammed.
Times-Herald photo by Lisa Goudy

By Lisa Goudy

Staying informed of scams is the best way to avoid getting scammed.

“The best line of defence is education. People have to really keep up on the current scams because they change every day and the fraudsters realize people have caught on to them or the police have caught on to them,” said Const. Joska Gallant of the RCMP Regina Commercial Crime section. “(Fraudsters) tweak it to be a little different.”

She said the most common scams are timeshare vacation properties, romance, overpayment or online selling and computer viruses.

“If they’re not the ones initiating the call, looking for the service, if they’re being called at home, that’s one red flag,” said Gallant. “They need to do their homework on the company.”

She said that often through quick Internet searches, people would discover that others have received a similar call and have complained online.

However, Gallant said some fraudsters have set up websites to add legitimacy and have the Better Business Bureau logo on their website.

“They can just cut and paste any graphics to post to their own website. So don’t just go by the website,” said Gallant.

“Contact the Better Business Bureau or those companies directly. Some of the websites that they’ve set up … they’ll list contact information, but when you try contacting them, none of it works. So that should also be a red flag.”

Gallant said all types of scams are common, including by phone, email and by mail.

Owners of timeshare properties are recent targets by cold calls at home by a company representative who states he or she can market or sell the “victim’s” property for them for an upfront fee. The fraudster promises a quick sale with a high profit and the victim is presented with official looking documents that may require a signature to authenticate the scam.

For more information, see the August 11 Weekend Extra edition of the Times-Herald.

Sidebar tease: Common scams can result in loss of thousands

Const. Joska Gallant of the RCMP Regina Commercial Crime section said in 2011, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre reported the total dollar loss because of mass marketing fraud was $64,242,241.40.

Gallant added that between April 1 and June 20 of this year, there were 219 attempted mass marketing frauds in Saskatchewan reported to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and 93 victims, resulting in a total loss of $148,696.82. The top three Saskatchewan-based frauds are merchandise, sale of merchandise by complaint and service.

For more information, see the August 11 Weekend Extra edition of the Times-Herald.

More information and statistics on current frauds are found on the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre website at www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca or the RCMP website at www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/scams/index_e.htm.