OPP warning residents about scams

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Photo by KEVIN McSHEFFREY East Algoma OPP Constable Bev Gauthier addressed a crowd of about 50 people, mostly seniors, at seminar of frauds and scams at the Blind River Community Centre on March 9. She described some of the frauds.

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The OPP participated in a seminar on frauds and scams at the Blind River Community Centre earlier this month.

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The second portion of the seminar was by OPP Constable Bev Gauthier, community services office in Blind River. Gauthier said frauds and scams do not only happen in large cities, but they happen in this area as well. “Education is power.

Tell two people and the word will spread,” says Gauthier. She said there were more than 200 such incidents in East Algoma in 2022. Fraudsters scammed area residents for between £40 to £100,000.

Last year, people in East Algoma lost about £600,000 to fraudsters and scammers. She said two popular frauds in this area are the Grandparent and Romance scams. In the Romance scam a fraudster meets someone in a social media site and slowly begins a romantic relationship with a man or woman.

After a time, the scammer would say they are in trouble and need money to get out of it, or they love the victim and desperately want to meet the person, but do not have the money to travel.

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The victim often offers to help by sending the person money. With these scams the fraudsters often ask for the money the person is offering to be with gift cards.

When the victim buys the gift cards, often more than one, they call the person back and give them the hidden numbers on the cards. “They’ll tell you all kinds of stories to take your money, and it’s all fake,” explains Gauthier. “These scammers are professionals.

Usually, there are a lot from the Ivory Coast (a country on the southwestern coast of Africa). They work in teams of four to six. You have one girl talking, she trying to get a boyfriend.

The second person is taking information, the third person is an IT computer person, and they are there to rip you off. “You might think you’re talking to a guy or a girl, but you are not.”

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Gauthier adds that it is estimated only about five per cent of people scammed report they were defrauded.

“They’re too embarrassed.” She says there were two sextortion calls in East Algoma in 2022. Sextortion occurs when a victim is on a social media sit and the scammer asks them to do sexual acts on the site.

The scammer then has the photos and threatens to post the photos online or send them to your friends, unless you pay them. Gauthier says she has spoken to some of the merchants in Blind River that sell gift cards. Some of them have put a maximum limit of £250 on a gift card.

Giselle Moranville, of Mitchell’s Pharmacy, said they see more gift card scams around the Christmas Holidays. “But were trained at the front to recognize it. If people are buying large amounts of gift cards, we actually ask them why they are buying so much.

The biggest one we had was a young lady bought a £500 Amazon gift card.”

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Moranville asked if she was buying Christmas gift on Amazon. The woman said, “I got a message on Messenger stating that if I send them a £500 gift card from Amazon, they’re going to send me £14,000.

And it real because my friend did it and they got their money.” Moranville suggested to the woman that she stop at the OPP station and give them the information. “She called me a couple of hours later.

The OPP had gone over, went on her computer, and it was a scam. So, we saved her £500. She wanted us to reimburse her, but we can’t.

Once a gift card is activated it’s in your hands.” She related another story of a man with a mobility issue. He was angry at his niece because she wouldn’t drive him to Sault Ste.

Marie to buy Walmart gift cards.

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He said he got a call that people wanted him to buy five £200 gift cards. The people were to call him back to get the hidden numbers on the cards.

However, Gauthier had dropped of forms at the pharmacy describing frauds, and Moranville gave him a copy of the form. “It was fraud.” She advises that “If it looks suspicious, question it,” says Gauthier.

“There are our local fraudsters, I say Mickey Mouse, because it’s like £100 or £200. But all that adds up to £600,000 in a year. They think they’re smart, but they usually get caught and they’ll see their names in the newspaper.”

Gauthier adds that while most of these scams are aimed at seniors, everyone must beware.

Photo by KEVIN McSHEFFREYEast Algoma OPP Constable Bev Gauthier addressed a crowd of about 50 people, mostly seniors, at seminar of frauds and scams at the Blind River Community Centre on March 9. She described some of the frauds.

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