The Bancroft Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) will be sharing some real-life fraud cases in an effort to help local residents protect themselves.
In December 2024 police received a call regarding a fraud in the Town of Bancroft. A fraudster called the employee of a local business, pretending to be working on behalf the business owner. The individual had enough details to be convincing.
The fraudster had the employee take a large amount of cash, drive to Peterborough and deposit the cash into a bitcoin machine using digital QR codes sent to the victim.
The OPP and other police services have seen several other instances with a similar scheme. It can be difficult to trace and often the culprits are in another country
Although this story involves a business, police have also had similar stories with private citizens. Here are some tips of how to prevent this from happening to you:
- Caller ID, email, and websites can be altered and look legitimate
- Never assume the phone number appearing on call display is accurate
- Hang up and make an outgoing call when someone claims to be a financial institution, service provider, law enforcement, government agency or employer
- Call the company or agency directly, if you receive a text message or email
- Never click on links received via text message or email
- When visiting a website, always verify the URL and domain to make sure you are on the official website
- Legitimate businesses or government agencies will not ask you to make payments via cryptocurrency machines
- If something does not feel right, it often is not. Trust your instincts!