Police across Canada say the COVID-19 pandemic is leading to a whole host of new scams all intended to drain your bank account or steal your identity.
Const. Liza Cruz with the Ontario Provincial Police says some are related to offers for personal protective equipment.
“We want to encourage the public not to click on any link. These scammers, all they want is your personal information, and they can possibly be infecting your device with some type of malware,” said Cruz.
Cruz says there’s also scams offering free equipment but requiring you to provide credit card or banking information to offset shipping costs.
She notes there is also fraudulent work at home opportunities.
“We know a lot of people aren’t working right now, so this is very appealing. They’re being sent to potential victims asking them to use their bank account or open another bank account to transfer money and keep portions of the funds as payment,” she said.
Cruz says there’s also bogus offers of untested cures for coronavirus to stay away from as well.
Const. Erin Frazier says there’s another scam where individuals call posing as Public Health officials.
“What they say is that you tested positive for the virus. What they are hoping to do again is to get your personal information such as your health card or credit card numbers,” said Frazier.
Frazier stresses you can protect yourself by doing your research before admitting to any information and never provide personal or banking information to anyone requesting it.
With files from Randy Thoms.
