An event later this month aims to teach Red Deerians how to avoid becoming victims of fraud.
The Alberta Community Crime Prevention Association, in conjunction with Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction, will host a Fraud Prevention Month event at the downtown Red Deer Public Library from 9 a.m. to noon on March 15.
There will be a number of exhibitors at the event, including RCMP and the Central Alberta Crime Prevention Centre.
“The event is about awareness and education on just how serious a lot of this is,” said Jean Bota, Alberta Community Crime Prevention Association president.
“Scammers are becoming much more sophisticated in their approaches. … This is a growing problem, especially with seniors, with young people – with everyone really.”
Deputy Mayor Lawrence Lee will read a proclamation to officially mark March as Fraud Prevention Month in the City of Red Deer. Another proclamation event was held in Edmonton on March 1 and one will be held in Calgary on Monday.
Earlier this month, Alberta RCMP shared safety tips and online resources for Fraud Prevention Month, including:
- Use strong passwords for your online accounts;
- Avoid sharing personal information online;
- Refrain from sharing your banking information.
Cpl. Sean Milne, Alberta RCMP Provincial Economic Crime Team, said scammers will “try every trick in the book” to convince a target that their request is legitimate.
“If you feel like something is off about an interaction, you’ve likely picked up on a red flag. Remember that if it’s too good to be true, it usually is,” said Milne.
RCMP said it teamed up with the Alberta Community Crime Prevention Association and other supporting agencies during the first week of March to focus on online scams and fraud. This includes romance scams, phishing emails, jobs scams, buy and sell fraud, lottery and/or prize scams, tech repair scams and impersonation scams.
Anyone who is unsure of whether or not they are being targeted by a scammer is asked to visit the Government of Canada’s website to learn about common scam-types.
Victim of fraud are told to report it to their local law enforcement agency and to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre online at www.antifraudcentre.ca, or by calling: 1-888-495-8501.
“Be sure to contact your bank and credit card company if you believe your personal or financial information has been compromised,” police added.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter