There are all kinds of schemes out there trying to part you from your money.
Grandparent scams, travel and credit card debt offers, power of attorney abuse and other rip offs and frauds are among the activities people are being warned about by police during Fraud Awareness Month.
These are some of the things Brian Trainor, retired Saskatoon police officer, is warning people about. Trainor is an expert on the various common scams making the rounds.
One twist to be aware of is what Trainor describes as a "grandparent scam."
This is a situation where a grandparent gets a call on the telephone from someone claiming their grandkids are in jail or in a lot of trouble, and are demanding bail money be wired to them right away.
As part of the scam, Trainor said, the grandparents are also persuaded not to phone up the parents, either, in case it upsets them.
Trainor says any request to wire money anywhere should be an instant red flag.
"Any time you hear the word 'wire', it's a scam," he said. "When you wire money, you have to provide a money transfer number, and they will ask for that number and they use that number to retrieve the money transfer."
In legitimate cases you would send money and you would provide them with a transfer number and you would provide identification, he said.
"The problem is anyone can get the money anywhere in the world. You wire them the money and give them the transfer number, and it's picked up in London, England and Paris, France by someone with stolen ID."
Trainor said he had investigated something similar on Kijiji described as an "overpayment" scam, where he receives too much money and is required to wire back the difference. The victim thought he was wiring the money to Detroit, but it actually went to London England and was picked up by someone with an Italian passport, which was reported stolen.
"It's identity theft and if it's 'wire me money' it's a scam. Absolutely a scam," said Trainor.
Another common scam, and one many in this area are by now familiar with, is the "computer scam." The gist of the scam is that someone will call or send an email claiming to be from Microsoft and say your computer is infected, and ask for passwords and information in order to download software to clean it off.
There are also familiar scams where emails are sent, claiming to be from reputable companies such as SaskTel or the banks, claiming your email or computer is infected, or your account is suspended or something along those lines and then asking for personal information.
"Most people don't fall for it, but some people do," said Trainor. "Just know that companies like Microsoft or banks, or the federal government, won't contact you through an email to get personal information over the phone, they'll phone you or ask you to contact them." They don't ask for personal information over the phone, he said, because they know people are leery of this sort of thing going on.
"If you get an unsolicited phone call or email, don't reply to it," said Trainor. Also, "don't click on a link to an email because the link is to a page the scammers have made." Just delete it, Trainor said.
Those are the two biggest ones right now but there are others to watch out for, and Trainor says they change from week to week.
Power of attorney abuse has become an issue Trainor says, because baby boomers are retiring with life insurance and pension policies with money in them.
Increasingly, there have been cases of people with power of attorney helping themselves to the finances and keeping it all for themselves.
"These crooks are coming out of the woodwork," he said.
He advises people to get "an enduring power of attorney, one that carries on after you've lost mental capacity. You need to go see a lawyer, do not go to an office-supply store and buy one off the shelf. These are tailor made, you need to put things in there that aren't in these standard forms."
Pick two power-of-attorneys, as well, Trainor advises and if they are your offspring, make sure they are good with money and make sure you can trust them.
As well, make sure those with power of attorney "accountable to somebody, that's probably the key. They have to show somebody your bank statement," said Trainor.
There are other scams and offers people should watch out for.
Among the dicey ones are automated phone calls claiming to be able to do something about your credit card debt.
The problem with those offers, Trainor says, is "you have to pay a fee." And that is the catch. You have to be leery about calls from people soliciting you to "pay a fee to win money or to help you," he says.
"If it's to win money it's a scam, if it's to help you out it could be a legitimate business, but they're not being upfront with you."
He considers it a "grey area" and advises people to do their homework in those cases and use Google and other searches to find out exactly what the cost would be and all the information they can on names, company names and so on.
Trainor notes there is a scam going around where people claiming to be auto brokers advertise and claim they can guarantee your vehicle will be sold but they want $500 wired in advance.
"And of course if you wire to them $500 you never hear from them again."
Another grey area is automated phone calls from people claiming you have won a free cruise in the Caribbean. The problem is all the other costs, and things, they don't mention about the trip.
"They're not illegal, but they're not being up front," said Trainor.
What happens is they may send you a plane ticket for a cruise from Miami, but the ticket is a "companion" ticket where someone else must join you on the trip and pay the full fare. Also, it may only be a one-way ticket, which means you'll have to sit through a timeshare presentation just to get a ticket home - and the timeshares cost $15,000 to $25,000.
It's not exactly a scam, said Trainor, but "they don't tell you a lot of things."
