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Lacombe Police Service warns of current frauds

LPS has experienced an increase in telephone and internet fraud complaints over the past year
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Lacombe Police has experienced an increase in telephone and internet fraud complaints over the past year. People of all age groups are falling victim to many of these scams and frauds.

Most people are aware of the common types of frauds and scams. Some of these consist of a phone call from what would appear to be; a relative, your bank or credit card company, government agencies or political organizations.

Some current examples of common scams are:

  • Grandson is in jail needs bail money.
  • Bank calling to advise that you have a problem with your credit, they want access to your account online.
  • Internet dating sites
  • You owe money to Canada Revenue Agency, send money or you will go to jail.
  • Relative was in a collision and needs money sent.
  • Your computer may be infected with illegal pornography and the RCMP are aware.
  • Internet buy and sell pages, seller asking for money in advance to hold item.
  • Caller pretending to be from Microsoft, claiming that you have a problem with your computer.

With the current technology available to criminals today they can quite easily use a system so that your call display will display a legitimate organization name and quite often appear to be coming from a local number.

If you experience this type of call and are not 100 per cent sure of the source; then police are suggesting that you hang up, do not engage in the conversation.

If you are concerned that the call may actually have been from your bank, then either go to your local branch or look up the number and call it yourself (it is usually on the back of your debit card or credit card).

It is common in these types of frauds for the criminal to ask for payment in the form of gift cards. This type of payment can be transferred online and is not traceable from where it is purchased.

If you work retail and have a customer purchasing large amounts of gift cards take the time to have a conversation with them, you may help them discover that they are being scammed.

Do not allow anyone remote access to your computer and certainly do not give away passwords or access codes.

If you believe you have a problem with your computer, take it to a trustworthy repair technician. It is also still recommended that you change passwords and PIN numbers on a monthly basis, doing this will greatly reduce the risk of any compromised information being used.

Check your bank account transaction records on a regular basis and verify all your transactions.

If you believe your bank card or other information has been compromised, including identification information, you are likely the victim of a crime, please report it to local law enforcement.

Notifying your local law enforcement will ensure that we are aware of the current scams affecting our community and will allow us to develop strategies to combat these scams.

For further information on frauds go to the Canadian Anti-fraud Centre online at http://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/index-eng.htm.

-Submitted by the Lacombe Police Service