By Nathan Jordan

Fraud Alert

Prince George RCMP warns of new scams making the rounds in Northern Capital

Mar 10, 2023 | 5:20 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Scams are on the rise in Canada, as fraudsters have been deploying increasingly high-tech and sophisticated ways to coax the hard earned cash from their victims bank accounts, and the local RCMP has sounded the alarm for Prince George residents to be wary.

According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, the most common types of scams so far in 2023 are Investment, and Service Scams, alongside Phishing and Spear Phishing. Most recently here in Prince George, there’s been an explosive increase in reports of Phishing scams targeting seniors and elders, it generally takes form of a desperate phonecall from someone posing as a relative, pleading for bail money to be e-transferred to another person posing as a bail bondsman… an invasion of privacy like that, ratchets up the emotional tension right away, and admitting that you’ve been a victim, can be extremely hard to do.

If you find out you’ve been the victim of fraud it’s important to stay calm, collect your thoughts, and follow these next steps:

1. Document all your correspondence with the scammer, keep copies of any receipts, emails or texts that may have changed hands

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2. Contact your financial institution to alert them you’ve been a victim, from there your accounts will be flagged, and credit bureaus will be informed.

3. Contact local police to report the scam, let them know if any suspicious activity has shown up on your credit report, and then geet the case file number for future reference

Once you’ve completed those steps, report your situation to the Canadian Anti-fraud Centre using the online Fraud Reporting System, and then be on guard for the possibility of follow-ups from the fraudster, since it’s not uncommon for scammers to try and strike twice.