by Bob Grylls
Reporter
WESTMEATH – Every one of the 20 people who braved a freezing rain winter storm knew some of the Frauds and Scams that were to be discussed at the Westmeath Hall but no one knew all of them. Some had been scammed themselves.
Co-ordinator of this evening’s Speaker Series event was Connie Grey. It is sponsored by the Riverview Seniors Social Club with funding from the New Horizons for Seniors Program.
Ms. Grey introduced Constable Shawn Peever, OPP – Community Safety Officer, working in the Pembroke area. Cst. Peever is the Media Relations contact, Crime Stoppers co-ordinator and takes care of 23 schools in the vicinity.
He began by stating the obvious, “Once the money is gone, it is gone.” Scams and frauds can happen over the telephone or the internet. The scammers don’t discriminate, they will take anybody’s money, he stated. They often use scare tactics like the ‘Grandfather Scam’ where money is needed urgently for a supposed grandchild in trouble or a Prize Scam where the victim only has to pay the taxes before a prize is forwarded. Cst. Peever reminded the audience, “If too good to be true, it is.” A few million dollars are lost annually with these types alone.
Computer Repair Scams are another one where permission is given to a scammer to take over your computer to fix the problem. There goes identity information and passwords. Vigilance is needed against ‘Phishing’ and ‘Call Spoofing’ – often appearing as the CRA (Canadian Revenue Agency). ‘Ransomware’ is a screen pop-up declaring a false accusation about you and demanding money for it to disappear.
“Scan your computer frequently for viruses and turn on the pop-up blocking feature,” Const. Peever said. “You can stop phone fraud – just hang up.”
Ms. Grey returned to introduce the second speaker, Keith Ward, an Intelligence Researcher and Profiler for the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre in North Bay.
He joined the CAFC in 1992 which co-operates with police stations around the world. There are three sections — a call centre for complaints, one for senior support and the third is operational support to review complaints and observe trends. The centre is so busy it can only handle 20 percent of the complaints it receives.
Mr. Ward highlighted Mass Marketing Frauds which is where boiler rooms operated by organized crime overseas using methods of extortion, phishing and fake services. In 2016 there were more than 37,000 MMF scams with a loss of $900 million. Less than five percent of these crimes are reported to CAFC, due to embarrassment and fear of what their family will think.
“Some are due to incognizance, a belief that police can’t do anything about it and no restitution,” Mr. Ward said. “The majority of the victims are between the ages of 50 to 69.”
The latest scam is a phone call that asks, “Can you hear me?” If you answer “yes” it will be recorded and used later confirming that you are in agreement to some purchase you didn’t ask for.
The audience was participative throughout the session. There were many questions for the speakers as well as discussions about being scammed. It was evident that the more people discussed these daily frauds and scams with others the better chance of avoiding them.
Ms. Grey thanked the speakers for their wonderful presentation. She agreed that information learned tonight should be shared with others.
