This past weekend (March 24th and 25th 2018) Officers of the North Bay Police Service responded to calls for service regarding mass marketing fraud complaints in the City of North Bay.
In one incident the complainant received an estate settlement letter from Sherwood Consultants Inc. from London, U.K. The complainant was told he was the beneficiary of a life insurance police entitling him to 4.8 million dollars in U.S. funds.
The complainant was to send full name, address, phone number, fax number and email address to the consultant company. The Complainant did not respond and contacted police instead.
In Another incident, a North Bay resident reported that a family member was contacted by persons claiming to represent Readers Digest and claimed the family member won $500 a week for life. All the person had to do was send $500 to the “Readers Digest contact” in order to receive the weekly payment. Fortunately, it was determined to be a fraud and no money was sent.
According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, every year Canadian victims lose more than a billion dollars to fraud scams just like these.
March is Fraud Awareness month and police say these incidents highlight how important it is to educate yourself before you become a victim and send your money to someone you have never met.
Police add scammers use any method they can to contact you; mail, email, telephone, text messages, even door to door in some cases.
The police suggest if you are in doubt of the call, do not feel pressured to respond. Educate your choices.
For more information on Fraud go to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre website at www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca
