By Sheldon Spackman

Use Due Diligence

RCMP urge vigilance in preventing residents from being scammed

May 1, 2021 | 9:57 AM

Alberta RCMP are reminding citizens to be mindful of potential scams trying to separate you from your hard-earned cash.

With reports of numerous scams currently making the rounds around Red Deer, Constable Chantelle Kelly with RCMP K Division says many scammers try to pass themselves off as a charitable organization, for example.

“Someone either comes to the door or you get it through an email or a phone call asking for a donation on behalf of the particular charity,” says Kelly. “Don’t give any personal information or financial information over the phone immediately. You can always request more information if it’s a cause or organization you’re interested in giving your money to. I suggest you contact that organization, on your own, directly.”

Kelly says ‘prize scams” are another popular route that fraudsters often partake in.

“It’s when you get a phone call or an email where you’ve won some sort of prize, vacation, vehicle, money, something like that,” she explains. “But in order to receive the prize, you have to pay some sort of money up front, whether it be for fees or taxes or import fees and they’ll come up with some sort of story as to why you need to pay money up front. Then they’ll request for you to pay that either through credit card or through gift cards in order to receive the prize.”

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Kelly says it’s important to ask yourself, did you enter any sweepstakes or draws?

“With these prize scams, the minute they ask you for any money, you know it’s a scam,” she exclaims. “So just hang up and don’t provide any information, whether it be financial or personal information.”

One well known charitable organization that struggles with the fallout from these scammers is STARS Air Ambulance.

Senior Communications Officer Deborah Tetley says STARS has a number of critically important fundraisers throughout the year, but their largest one by far is the STARS Lottery, now in its 28^th year in Alberta.

“We often hear that the scammers are using our lottery to try and entice people to send money to claim a prize,” laments Tetley. “STARS will never ask you to send money, gifts cards or any sort of payment to claim your winnings. In addition to the lottery, we engage with donors through our annual giving program, events, calendar sales and monthly giving, to name a few.”

Tetley says you can find a more fulsome list of fundraising opportunities at stars.ca.

“Check with STARS directly to verify if you are a winner. Winners are listed on our official lottery websites. Always use our official phone numbers and websites, and not the ones a scammer may provide,” she advises.

• 1-855-STARS-68 (1-855-782-7768), info@stars.ca, starslottery.ca
• Feel free to report the call to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 and share the information you collected.
  P(L-R) Captain pilot Josh Brewster, captain pilot Mike Janke, flight nurse Stuart Grant, flight paramedic Dave Allison (Lyle Aspinall)

Tetley notes, however, that STARS also relies on the support of third-party, often community-led fundraisers, in which generous supporters raise funds on behalf of STARS.

“These scams are frustrating for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that they attempt to manipulate others using STARS’ good name and our mission to care for critically ill and injured patients across the province,” she remarks. “We also feel badly for the unsuspecting folks who receive these scam calls, and who are left wondering if the calls are legitimate. It’s unfair that they are preyed upon.”

People are encouraged to arm their family and friends with the same knowledge, and to speak up if they’ve received a call or have been a victim.

“In these extraordinary times, donor support is as important as ever, given that our crews work on the front lines of the pandemic and have been since last spring,” Tetley points out. “STARS carries-out an average of eight missions a day from our six bases in western Canada. Last year we carried out a total of 2,994 missions.”