Sunshine Coast RCMP are receiving almost daily fraud reports from Coast residents.
Recent instances of fraud have varied from phone calls, offering a $100,000 cash reward in exchange for online gift cards, to email scams where computers are infected with viruses that access banking information, said a March 11 RCMP press release.
Scams are also prevalent on social media. The RCMP have received multiple reports of people sending e-transfers or payments through Facebook Marketplace.
A common theme is residents allowing external agencies to access their computers remotely, which results in them being defrauded, said the release.
How to protect yourself
The RCMP included several ways that residents can prevent criminals from accessing their online information:
- Create a strong password for each of your accounts.
- Set up multi-factor authentication to make it more difficult for someone else to access your accounts.
- Never share your multi-factor authentication code with anyone.
- Update the privacy settings attached to your social network accounts.
- Never accept money or send money to a third party. You may be participating in money laundering, which is a criminal offence.
- Avoid reacting automatically. Take five minutes to ask questions and listen to your instincts. If something doesn’t seem right, ask someone else you trust about it. If you are being pressured to react immediately, be suspicious.
- Do not open an attachment or click a link in an unsolicited email or text message.
- Do not trust the information on your call display because it can easily be manipulated.
- Do not provide your personal or financial information on demand.
Additional information about how to protect yourself can be found at the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
