Bancroft OPP say they will be ‘sharing some real-life fraud cases’ in hopes of protecting residents.
In December OPP received a call regarding a fraud in the Town of Bancroft.
A fraudster had called the employee of a local business, pretending to be working on behalf the business owner. The individual “had enough details to be convincing”.
The employee was instructed to take a large amount of cash, drive to Peterborough and deposit the cash into a bitcoin machine using digital QR codes sent to the employee.
The OPP and other police services say they have seen several other instances of a similar scheme. They say the fraud can be difficult to trace and often the culprits are in another country
Although this story involves a business, police have also had similar stories with private citizens.
Here are some tips of how to prevent this from happening to you:
- Caller ID, email, and websites can be altered and look legitimate.
- Never assume the phone number appearing on call display is accurate.
- Hang up and make an outgoing call when someone claims to be a financial institution, service provider, law enforcement, government agency or employer.
- Call the company or agency directly, if you receive a text message or email.
- Never click on links received via text message or email.
- When visiting a website, always verify the URL and domain to make sure you are on the official website.
- Legitimate businesses or government agencies will not ask you to make payments via cryptocurrency machines.
- If something does not feel right, it often is not. Trust your instincts.
