I came very close to being lured into a fraud scheme that was so subtle most anyone could have been duped like I almost was. I keep wondering if U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s not seeing the problem of bending or breaking the law for his own needs is emboldening others to do the same.
When he was campaigning, and spoke so openly about targeting certain groups, it might just have opened a door for someone to swindle who wouldn’t otherwise have done so. A survey of Mr. Trump’s four decades of wheeling and dealing also reveals an equally meticulously record of misleading and deception, some of it unabashedly confirmed by Mr. Trump himself.
How much of our history has and will be rewritten to satisfy his insatiable need to control and manipulate the masses is unknown and may forever remain an enigma. The first and most obvious question that comes to mind is “How do we take lessons from our past when it has been malformed?”
Back to my tale of apprehension. A week ago, I received an e-mail from my bank requesting me to authenticate my bank card. The reason that I didn’t twig to anything malicious was because a few days before, I had received a new MasterCard and I figured that was what the e-mail referred too. The message requested that the attached form be completed. I did so with all the information it asked for; full name and address, the card number, its expiry date and the three-digit code on the back of the card. I sent the e-mail to the reply address.
The next day the same e-mail request came again. Thinking I did something wrong, I filled out the form over again with the same details as before. Then the next day another request!
I was so disconcerted I phoned the telephone number on the form, finally getting connected to the appropriate employee. I was complaining about how inefficient the bank was to send three e-mails with the same request. She then politely asked if I had the right bank. I said. “Of course, I do. I’ve dealt with BMO for many years.” She said, “This is the Royal Bank you are talking too.” I checked and the e-mail was from the RBC not the BMO – their logos look similar and both even have a capital ‘B’ – anybody could be fooled.
It struck me that I had a problem so I left immediately for Pembroke and the BMO with a printout of the blank form. I talked to my contact there and was told it was a fraud and to cancel my credit card. I said okay, but first I walked across the street to the RBC with the form. The person I talked with said this was the fourth one he saw that day so far, confirming it was fraudulent and emphasized that no bank would send a client a request of any kind by an e-mail. I went back to my contact at the BMO to pass on what I learned. She offered to cancel the card for me, verified that it was cancelled with head office and arranged for a replacement one to be sent.
I still can’t believe I got duped like that when I really knew that banks didn’t send e-mails to their clients. Even worse, it wasn’t my bank that had sent it.
With a smidgen of consolation, more and more websters are trying to trick people out of their money. To help people confront this dilemma both the RCMP and the OPP will be at the Westmeath Hall in February to give their assessments on this wide-ranging topic of frauds and scams.
I wonder if naivety runs in my family. About 15 years ago,my father received a phone call from a Canada Customs agent telling him that a $50,000 prize had arrived from Publisher’s Clearinghouse for him. He would need to send $5,000 to have it clear customs and be sent directly to him. I hate to say it but my father gave him all his banking details over the phone with little hesitation. Fortunately, my sister dropped into the house minutes after the call, listened to his story and said it was a scam. She tried redialing the telephone number first but it was already disconnected. She phoned Scotiabank in Pembroke relating what had happened. If she could be there in 20 minutes the information could be cancelled. She was.
Up until the time of the bank card, I hadn’t given much thought not to be trustful. Even the years I lived in Ottawa, Hamilton and Scarborough I got to know my neighbours and often shared tools or whatever back and forth. In Scarborough, even though I had a garage and double laneway, I left my car on the street many times unlocked and never had a problem. Even my garage door was left open. Ironically, a neighbour next door and also one across the street were broken into.
I heard they both told the police that they took every precaution to be safe. My theory is simple enough: if you worry about what might happen to you, then it will.
