Cobourg police are reminding the public to be vigilant after a local resident was almost defrauded of $47,000 as the result of a FINTRAC phone scam.
The resident received a phone call from a fraudster posing as a representative of the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), which is the federal government’s financial intelligence unit and anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing supervisor.
The fake FINTRAC representative claimed a warrant was out for the resident’s arrest. After speaking with a second fraudster pretending to be a police supervisor, the victim provided banking information and made a wire transfer totalling $47,000.
Fortunately, the victim then contacted Cobourg police and, after learning that it was a scam, was able to contact their bank and cancel the wire transfer before there was any loss of funds.
Many scams and fraudulent activities attempt to imitate government services to gain access to personal and financial information. This can include tactics such as displaying what appear to be legitimate organizations or telephone numbers on call display.
FINTRAC and FINTRAC personnel have occasionally been misrepresented in scams and fraud attempts. According to the FINTRAC website, the unit will never contact members of the general public in any way to obtain financial or other personal information.
“Any contact made by a person claiming to be a representative of FINTRAC, whether that contact is in writing, by email, on social media or by phone, should be considered suspicious, and is very likely an attempt at defrauding you of funds or obtaining your personal information,” the FINTRAC website states.
“FINTRAC cannot and does not freeze, hold, or block the movement of your funds. Furthermore, FINTRAC will never ask for a fee to be paid to release funds of any kind.”
“Any communication asking you to send money to FINTRAC or to contact FINTRAC regarding a payment should be considered fraudulent, even if that communication appears to originate from a FINTRAC employee or uses what appears to be official letterhead.”
Scammers often use intimidation to pressure victims into compliance, including pretending to be police officers. Police officers will never ask for money over the phone.
If you receive a similar call, hang up and call your local police station using a publicly available number to confirm the legitimacy of the call.
If you have been a victim of a scam, report the incident to local police and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 or visit www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca, which also has a list of known scams and more information about how to protect yourself.
