Three local individuals were scammed out of $120,000 in the past three months no thanks to telephone and online fraud.
Coun. John McTaggart, who’s a member of the local Police Services Board, is urging the public to be on high alert.
“This isn’t something that’s happening far away it’s happening right here in our own town, innocent individuals are falling pray to these schemes to dope people out of their hard-earned money,” he said, at Monday night’s council meeting.
“Please be vigilant of your loved ones and be certain that they are not being victimized by these ruthless criminals.”
After being scammed, it is often very difficult to recuperate the money that’s been lost, Coun. McTaggart noted.
“The information that we’re getting is it’s very difficult to get money back; in the allocation, there’s some money but it’s often overseas,” he explained.
“Sometimes, once they seem to get the hooks in you, they get you to just send a little bit more and just send a little bit more,” added Coun. McTaggart.
One individual allegedly was scammed out of $60,000.
While elderly people are sometimes more susceptible to scams, Coun. McTaggart said that’s not always the case, and the romantic angle plays a big role in people being defrauded nowadays.
Internationally, “catfishing” is on the rise–which is the act of luring someone into a relationship by means of a fictional online persona and often getting money sent under false pretenses.
“There’s many different angles on it,” Coun. McTaggart noted.
“We all need to watch out for each other and really be aware that this is going on in our community and that we want to be sure people aren’t impacted by these thieves, crooks,” he he stressed.
Mayor June Caul said she’s admittedly been defrauded in the past and was shocked by how deceiving scammers can be.
“I now know how easy it is; that it can happen to people and they pick people out,” she remarked.
“I’m sure they know who has lost a spouse recently or who’s having problems or who has made a windfall of any kind,” Mayor Caul added,
“I truly believe they pick and choose who they want to go after, and it just blows my mind the stories they can tell you and twist around to continue to make you believe them.”
Mayor Caul said she thinks the scams are often targeted towards certain people using information they obtain about their personal lives.
“They’ve got (their) lines down. You never believe they would have any idea about your situation or why they target you, but people are targeted every single day,” she explained.
Mayor Caul recommended getting call display to be able to determine who’s reaching out and to not trust a number just because it’s local.
“When I see a number, even if it’s a local number, that could be a scammer as well because I have . . . listened to somebody try to suck me into something with a local number,” she warned.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s sad to think that’s the way people make their living nowadays, how crooks are too lazy to go out and work and make a decent wage by sweat and tears instead of just scamming people out of money.”
Coun. McTaggart said to always remember the old adage: “If it seems to good to be true, it most likely is.”
