By Staff
December 12, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Members of the Halton Police Fraud Unit while investigating a fraud commonly known as a “Lottery Scam” a type of advanced fee scam, intercepted two packages destined for an undisclosed location in Burlington. The packages contained a large quantity of cash that had been sent by two separate victims to the scam.
An advance fee scam is when a victim is instructed to send money in order to claim a substantially larger sum of money and the money sent is often alleged to pay taxes or administration fees before the larger sum can be released. The money is usually requested to be sent in some form of electronic payment but in this case the victims were requested to courier cash payments.
The combined amount of money recovered was $40,000.00 dollars in Canadian Cash and the fraud unit are investigating to identify the victims and return the funds.
There are going to be some very embarrassed people answering the door when the police call to return the funds.
Police would like to remind the public not to send cash or electronic transfers of money to anyone who has solicited these funds under promise of a bigger return of money. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Center is an excellent resource for the public to assist them in identifying many of the common scams and provides advice on how to avoid them.
Anyone with any information regarding this incident is asked to contact the Halton Regional Police – Fraud Unit. Tips can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers, “See something, Hear something, Say something” at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), or through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.ca, or by texting “Tip201” with your message to 274637 (crimes)
It’s hard to imagine that this old scam still works, But I suppose there is never a shortage of greed and foolishness.