It has come to the attention of the Owen Sound Police Service that local residents are again being inundated with fraudulent schemes designed specifically to steal their money. Persons are contacted either by phone or in some cases by e-mail. It is important that each and every resident remains vigilant and able to recognize the difference between a legitimate call or e-mail contact and ones that are fraudulent.

Potential victims have been called by persons pretending to be from Revenue Canada. The caller will attempt to get the unsuspecting victim to confirm their personal banking information.

Potential victims have also been contacted by persons pretending to be employees of Canadian banking institutions. The fraudster will tell the unsuspecting victim that there has been suspicious activity on their Credit Card and ask that they confirm their card number.

In both of the above examples you can recognize the fraud simply by what is being asked. Revenue Canada and Banking Institutions would never request your personal banking or credit card information over the phone when they initiated the call. In the event that a legitimate call is received from a credit card company seeking to confirm the legitimacy of a transaction, the company would never ask for your credit card number as they already have it.

Source - Owen Sound Police Service