Fraud Prevention Month - New Scam Targeting Seniors Hitting Durham Region
March is Fraud Prevention Month.
Throughout the month, DRPS will be raising awareness about current scams and sharing fraud prevention tips on DRPS social media channels.
In 2023, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre reported that Canadians lost $554 million dollars to fraud. In 2023, DRPS received 3,803 fraud reports, up 25 per cent from the 3,048 fraud reports made in 2022. Recently, the DRPS Financial Crimes Unit is seeing a new fraud scheme targeting seniors.
The setup is similar to the Grandparent Scam. The victims receive a phone call from a person claiming to be from their credit card company. The caller asks the victim if they made recent purchases in another city and leads the victim to believe that their credit card has been compromised. The caller will tell the victim that their account has emergency status protection and they will send a courier to come and pick up their credit and bank cards to deliver it to the police.
The caller instructs the victim to put the credit cards into an envelope and write the card numbers and PIN codes inside. The caller will usually keep the victim on the phone as long as possible while a courier attends the victim’s home and picks up the envelope.
The credit cards are then used to make high end purchases and withdraw cash from the victim’s bank accounts.
Police want to remind everyone not to give out personal information, credit cards, and PIN codes to anyone over the phone. If they have, to notify their bank and credit cards immediately, then report it to the police.
If you receive a call or email and you suspect it could be a scam, please call 211 before you provide any information or react. 211 is a free service that will connect you with a trained call taker who can assist resident with determining if a call is legitimate or a fraud. It is available 24-hours-a-day, 365-days-a-year.
DRPS encourages everyone to speak to their loved ones about fraud prevention and remind them that when in doubt, call 211.
Anyone who has been a victim of a fraud can report it at www.drps.ca or call 905-579-1520.
For fraud prevention tips visit:
https://www.drps.ca/community-safety-and-support/crime-prevention/fraud-and-financial-crimes/