Provincial police are reminding people to be skeptical about sweepstakes after a senior was scammed out of $152,000.
The OPP say between April of 2016 and October 31, 2017, an elderly resident of Norfolk County got several calls saying they had won an international lottery prize of $24,900,000 US. The caller told the victim that taxes needed to be paid on the winnings and that funds should be sent through a transfer service to addresses in California and New Jersey.
Unfortunately, the victim wired $152,000 to various people.
"Don't become a statistic. Fraud is a multi-billion dollar enterprise that will only stop when the scammers stop getting money, banking information or personal information," says Norfolk OPP Constable Ed Sanchuk. "The best thing to do is to simply hang up the phone."
Police say, if you believe you may have been targeted by scammers, you should call police, check out the Ontario Ministry of Consumer Services website at www.ontario.ca, or contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (formerly Phone Busters) toll free at 1-888-495-8501. You can also go the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre website for information on the latest scams at www.antifraudcentre.ca.
