Safe Exchange Zone at LPS station. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Online scammers took $200,000 from Lethbridge residents in 2020

Mar 12, 2021 | 12:52 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Lethbridge Police is asking the public to be more careful about falling victim to potentially-fraudulent activities online.

March is Fraud Prevention Month so the service is highlighting the extent to which scammers are taking advantage of people and how to avoid it.

Online scams reported to LPS in 2020 totalled more than $200,000 in 2020. These range from online purchase scams to those involving computer repairs, fund-forwarding, and CEO frauds.

Most significantly, one business almost fell victim to a $190,000 scam which involved a request of funds. Thankfully, the victim figured out that it was a scam and never completed the transaction.

Under the umbrella of online scams, online buying and selling scams amounted to around $73,000 last year. One victim lost around $51,000 after believing a fraudulent timeshare offer was legitimate.

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So far this year, LPS has already received reports of about $33,000 in losses. Many victims reported fraudulent offers of computer repairs, purchases through Kijiji, other online classified ads, and gift card purchases.

Some tips from the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) include:

• Be cautious of blowout sales or greatly reduced prices (for example, 80 per cent off)
• Beware of rental units that are listed below fair market value
• Notice text with spelling errors or references to the product as “the item”
• Beware of pets being offered at below market value
• Beware of overseas buyers who want to buy without seeing the product first
• Beware of overpayments for items you are selling
• Beware of high volume purchases that need to be shipped urgently

There is a Safe Exchange Zone in the LPS parking lot for anyone concerned about their personal safety while meeting someone for a buy-and-sell transaction.