The South Bruce Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is asking residents to be cautious when receiving any unsolicited contact following 2 reports of successful scams in the past week. Unsolicited means that you didn't ask for it and con artists are calling, emailing, faxing constantly hoping to take your money. Your best defence is to ALWAYS verify who you are dealing with before you ever consider sending money.

• December 2, 2019 - a resident in the Municipality of Kincardine received a call from "Service Canada" reporting a Social Insurance Card issue. 
• November 26, 2019 - a resident in the Municipality of Arran-Elderslie received a call from a "computer company".

Both of these scam attempts were successful in that thousands of dollars have been lost.

Make no mistake; the calls will sound very convincing. Modern, tech-savvy scammers have the ability to create very convincing scams.

Scammers won't hesitate to use the name of a legitimate company in an effort to gain your trust and trick you into paying them.

Always be certain who you are dealing with before you ever consider sending money or sharing personal information.

You work hard for your money, so work just as hard to protect it. Don't pay the con artist.

Anyone interested in more information on fraud can contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1 888 495 8501 or check online at http://www.antifraudcentre.ca/.

The South Bruce OPP is requesting anyone with information that can assist police to call 1-888-310-1122. Should you wish to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or submit a secure web-tip at www.cstip.ca, where you may be eligible to receive a cash reward of up to $2000.

source: OPP media release