Online RCMP statistics indicate that thousands of Canadians fall victim to fraud every year, meanwhile losing millions of dollars. In an effort to prevent these numbers from affecting people locally, police do presentations on fraud and scams throughout the southeast.
Gabriel Bunn the Community Constable for the Sprague Detachment gave one such presentation at the Pat Porter Centre last week.
“Fraud is happening in every community throughout Canada,” states Bunn, “but we can definitely slow it down by increasing education, awareness, and discussion.”
Part of that discussion includes letting elderly people know what kinds of scams are out there.
According to Bunn, scam artists like to use relationships as bait; targeting lonely seniors by pretending to be love interests. He also cautions them to be wary of unusual sounding calls or emails, even if they seem to be coming from somebody they know, as fraudsters will often fake their identity to gain access to valuable information.
“One incident in any community is too much" comments Bunn, "and hopefully, we can slow it down so there is less loss and less heartache.”
Bunn encourages seniors or anyone else who is scammed, not to feel ashamed if they are tricked. “It can happen to absolutely anyone,” he stresses. Rather, victims of fraud should report it to the RCMP immediately so they can prevent others from falling to similar crimes.
Sat, Apr 20, 1:00 AM
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