On April 8, a client of the Bulkley Valley Credit Union’s Burns Lake Branch, received a fax impersonating the credit union, with an easy access offer for a business line of credit. The member suspected the veracity of the fax and shared it with the local branch, who then confirmed his suspicions of it being the work of a scammer.
“We can be a resource for people to just check in and double check, and make sure before they start sharing information,” said Nathan Way, the Lakes District Branch Manager for the Bulkley Valley Credit Union
Even during regular times, there are a lot of scams and Cyber crimes. Now, when a lot of people are left vulnerable, especially the seniors, due to the panic arising out of the COVID-19 situation, fraudsters are hoping to prey on these vulnerabilities to their benefit.
A Renenue Canada scam that is making rounds by post, asks customers to fill out details such as SIN number, date of birth, etc. on a partially filled up form claiming to be from the Canada Revenue Agency. The form asks help filling up the missing “required tax information” details and comes with a self address-stamped envelope as well. However, it is important to remember that Canada Revenue Agency would never require you to send in details like these over email or mail. It is also important to check with your local banking institute to confirm the veracity of such letters before responding to them.
“It’s just a matter of taking an extra second and maybe making a phone call to verify that what people are asking you for, is legitimate,” says Way. Executive director of the Burns Lake & District Chamber of Commerce, Randi Amendt, has a similar view on this, and suggests that contacting the local bank or business directly before giving out any information, would be the best way to protect oneself from fraud. “If someone has been a victim of a COVID-19 scam they should report it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre” she adds.
The Government of Canada’s Anti-fraud Centre has recorded a wide variety of scams ranging from texts offering COVID-19 relief fund, or confirming the eligibility for an emergency relief fund, to water-testing companies offering COVID-19 tests for water supply. The Anti-Fraud Centre also lists out some other scams to be wary about like miracle cures, quicker testing, cleaning products and services, some charities and government payouts.
In fact, last month, Canada’s Minister of Finance, Bill Morneau even tweeted a clarification regarding the relief fund scam. The tweet said, “#ScamAlert: The Government is NOT sending text messages regarding the new Canada Emergency Response Benefit. If you have received a text message regarding the benefit, do not click the link.”
BC Hydro has also been experiencing an exponential increase in scam reporting this month, compared to the previous month. In a statement, they have mentioned a 350 per cent increase in scams. One of the most commonly reported scams that BC Hydro customers have been experiencing is where fraudsters are threatening customers with overdue accounts, with disconnections. To ensure that no one falls for this scam, BC Hydro has decided to suspend all official disconnections, on all overdue accounts. They have also provided other pointers for its customers on what BC Hydro does, and doesn’t do. For example, BC Hydro does not collect credit information or any bank account details over phone, email or text. They also don’t accept pre-paid cash, credit cards or bitcoins and they never offer refunds or credits through Interac e-transfer.
Although Burns Lake has not seen as many frauds or scams yet, residents still need to be alert at all times. Some things to keep in mind include, not clicking on suspicious links or opening attachments from unsolicited texts or emails from unknown senders, not answering calls from unknown numbers and not giving out any personal information over phone, text or emails.
“We have had situations when people started to share information and the fraudsters had been telling our customers what to say when they came into the branch to get around some of the recommendations that we would make, that might raise red flags for us, that our member might be unknowingly involved in a scam,” said Way, adding that people need to be cautious, especially when someone is telling you what to say when you go into your financial institution, “they shouldn’t be telling you how to interact with us.”