The B.C. RCMP has declared March fraud prevention month and on that note, the Citizen is running a series of stories on the various types of fraud that can be encountered and how to protect yourself against them:
Sometimes what can appear to be a scam will turn out to be anything but.
A case in point, said Prince George RCMP Cpl. Craig Douglass, is a letter a local resident received from a lawyer out of Ontario on behalf of a major retailer saying he owes $400.
The RCMP's next step was to call the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) to verify its legitimacy. Turned out the CAFC had received several complaints about similar letters sent to other people, but also that the correspondence is legitimate.
"This guy's son or daughter had actually shoplifted from Zeller's and Zeller's is taking legal action and fining them for the administrative charges and so on as a result of that shoplifting," Douglass said. "It's a legitimate, legal thing."
Douglass can't say enough good things about the CAFC and its website, www.antifraudcentre.ca.
The CAFC website is a "very useful tool" said Douglass. "The more people know about that website the more will be better off in protecting themselves against fraud."
Other useful sources include the federal government's Competition Bureau, www.competitionbureau.gc.ca and the provincial government's Consumer Protection B.C. office, www.consumerprotectionbc.ca.
