By Shaun Penner

Crime

McLennan RCMP tip sheet helps prevent big fraud

Mar 4, 2020 | 1:37 PM

A fraud prevention reference card created by the McLennan RCMP is being credited with helping prevent one man from nearly losing $50,000 to a gift card scam.

After the RCMP handed out a tip sheet to local businesses to bring awareness to a concerning rise in the scams earlier this year, one clerk at a store in McLennan was alert enough to realize a man trying to buy a suspicious quantity of gift cards was possibly being scammed.

The clerk then intervened, according to Cpl. Deanna Fontaine with the Alberta RCMP, and the man then reached out to his family for help to prevent the fraud from happening.

Fontaine says that having the clerk know what to ask and watch for made all the difference.

“It was a very simple, but innovative idea that has had a huge impact already in terms of (preventing) an elderly male from being defrauded out of possibly $50,000 of his money.”

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This poster will now be shared to other RCMP detachments across Alberta (Photo: RCMP)

Fontaine says the man was in the process of liquidating his assets, and could have lost nearly $50,000 in RRSP’s.

She adds that cases like these continue to be reported, and continuing to increase awareness can help stop others from becoming victims.

Fontaine adds some things to remember to protect yourself against these cases includes never sharing personal information with unknown individuals, and to verify who is contacting you asking for any type of payment.

“You can ignore communications from these unknown contacts. No legitimate government agency or business will ever demand payment in gift cards or pre-paid credit cards, EVER,” she annunciated. “These are methods that are used by criminals to hide their activities from police.”

The RCMP will now be sharing the McLennan RCMP’s tip sheet with other detachments around the province, as part of the Fraud Prevention Month in the month of March.

Police say there were over 46,000 reports of fraud in 2019, while $98 million was lost to fraud across Canada. Just in January of 2020 alone, there were over 3,400 reports of fraud across the country.

RCMP add that if you are a victim of a fraud, you should report it immediately to police or to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, as well as check with your bank and credit card company if you think your financial information has been stolen.