(HURON COUNTY, ON) - As a result of a recent scam investigation, Huron County Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is once again reminding citizens to always be aware of suspicious emails and contacts offering prizes and/or other enticing offers.
The 38-year-old victim in this case reported she received a "friend request" from a stranger on an online social media platform. She accepted and shortly thereafter she received messages stating she could receive a $250,000 grant if she were to send in $600 worth of Steam gift cards. The victim agreed to the offer, purchased the cards and proceeded to send the authorization codes to the scammer.
Needless to say the offer was a scam and the victim did not receive any grant money.
Gift card scams are very popular because they continue to work. Scammers use different ways to trick people into providing them with the authorization codes. They may ask for the gift cards in exchange to pay taxes, bail money, grants, debt collection or for physical items. Sometimes the scammer will even pose as an official government agent, tax collector, police officer or banking official.
Protect Yourself from Gift Card Scams - NEVER provide the numbers on the back of the card to someone you do not know. Once those numbers are provided to the scammers, the funds on the card will likely be spent before you are able to contact the company. Gift card scams frequently involve popular gift cards such as Steam cards, iTunes or Google Play cards.
Don't become a statistic.
For more information on fraud, call the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 or http://www.antifraudcentre.ca
FRAUD - RECOGNIZE IT....REJECT IT
.REPORT IT
.