At least twice a day the 51暗网 office receives a call informing us that we have won a prize.
It鈥檚 almost always an audio recording and, without a doubt, there is always an awkward pause before the recording begins, leaving us to question whether anyone鈥檚 there at all. 鈥淗ello?鈥� we call into the phone. 鈥淗ello?鈥�
And inevitably, after a beat, the recording begins, with someone posing as a representative from WestJet or Google or some other well-known corporation. 鈥淐ongratulations,鈥� says the robot. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e our grand prize winner!鈥�
Whatever the prize and whoever the caller, those phone calls always end the same: with the phone being slammed into its holster. Now, let鈥檚 be clear, our little office isn鈥檛 full of quick to anger, over-aggressive types.
Rather, those calls just push all of our buttons, not because they鈥檙e a waste of time, but because鈥攐f course鈥攅ach and every one of us would love to be a millionaire or the winner of an all-expense paid vacation. (Who wouldn鈥檛?)
But, we also know it鈥檚 too good to be true. We know opportunities like that don鈥檛 just fall out of the sky and into an automated recording.
Not everyone knows that, though. Some people buy into these telephone scams, sending off their personal information, only to find themselves duped by a criminal.
There are multiple ways scam artists achieve such results, whether they鈥檙e using a love scam, romance scam, grandparent scam or computer scam鈥攖hey鈥檙e crafty. They tug at your heart strings or convince you your computer is compromised and then they go for the kill: asking for your credit card number, passwords and other personal information. Sometimes they鈥檙e even so bold as to ask for money, straight out.
This summer we have received a handful of calls from Jasperites who have been on the other end of their own phone scams. (You can read about one of those calls on page 2.)
So we are happy to hear that the Jasper RCMP will be hosting an anti-fraud workshop at the Alpine Summit Seniors Lodge next week. We encourage anyone who鈥檚 concerned about phone scams, or has received a suspicious phone call, to attend the event.
Scammers are powerful manipulators. So, empower yourself with the tools to protect yourself.
