A 78-year-old Orillia senior was almost the victim of fraud on Tuesday evening.
Carolyn Harmer received a phone call from a man claiming to be from Rogers Communications Inc. He said the company had selected her to receive a free MedicalAlert product as long as she could provide them with a void cheque.
After Harmer agreed to terms with the caller, he said they would be sending somebody over to her home right away.
“She started feeling sick ... so she called them back and said 'No forget it,' and they tried to be persuasive enough to have her open the door and give them a void cheque,” explained Harmer’s daughter, Chris Anderson.
Harmer phoned Rogers to validate the caller and the offer. Rogers confirmed the caller was not somebody from their company.
“They said they have absolutely never heard anything like that,” Anderson said.
After realizing she was almost a victim of fraud, Harmer decided to call the OPP.
“The police did nothing, they literally said when they take your money then you can call us. If they haven’t done anything to you, you don’t have a case,” Anderson explained.
“Where are the preventative measures? Who knows if these people were planning on busting in the door and taking her purse. It’s scary,” she said.
Anderson fears that the person(s) who tried to scam her mother will strike again and target more Orillia seniors.
“It’s so disturbing. I just think of all the older people we have here in Orillia and how vulnerable they might be,” she said.
Orillia OPP Const. Ted Dongelmans says that most of the people behind such frauds are usually from out of town.
“Most of those kinds of frauds are multi-jurisdictional, they are mostly out of our area frauds, so the agency that actually deals with them is the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre,” he explained.
“Our advice is to usually call them or report it online unless somebody has actually been defrauded.”
Ironically, March is anti-fraud month at the OPP, Dongelmans noted.
“We put out an educational media release at the start of the month in regards to local frauds and local attempts, as well as some tips on how to prevent people from being a victim of fraud,” he said.
Dongelmans encourages locals to turn to antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca for more information on how to protect against fraud.
