Fraud prevention expert warns about the holiday scammers

With the holidays around the corner, it’s more than just shoppers who are getting ready.

“Fraudsters love Christmas as much as we do,” said Julie Matthews, a fraudulent prevention educator.

Matthews says the time leading up to Christmas, people are more vulnerable to scams.

“We are all just so busy that the scammers know that they might be more likely to catch us in that busy moment or maybe we clicking on things or opening emails and text messages perhaps without really realizing what we’re clicking.”

Edmonton’s West End Seniors Activity Centres host a course to help seniors to identify fraud, including “grandparent scams”.

“If I say it’s bad, it’s an understatement. Because in 2017, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre already stated that fraud is the number one crime against Canadian seniors,” said Haidong Liang, the executive director of West End Seniors Activity Centre.

“When you receive any phone call make sure to double-check.”

And while seniors are common targets of scams, there’s a growing number of Gen Z and Millennials falling victim.

“Some study shows that younger population — 18 to 35 — are now becoming more vulnerable than seniors to scams because they are simply online and on more devices more often than seniors are,” said Matthews.

With the current Canada Post strike, Matthews warns we need to be even more skeptical of text messages saying we have a delivery.

“Perhaps they might try to send out emails or text messages in relation to the strike and delays for deliveries. And so that is something that probably we should be keeping an eye out for.”

And if you are doing your holiday shopping on an online marketplace, Matthews says to be wary of gift cards or promotional codes and to meet for exchanges in public places.

“If the price is too good to be true, you really need to be suspicious.”