Warning from the Sûreté du Québec: Do you know about these phone scams?

The Sûreté du Québec wishes to alert the public to various types of phone scam.

Many scammers will impersonate an advisor, investigator, family member or government official. They do this to manipulate you into divulging personal or banking information. What is more, they use software or computer applications to trick you, including changing the number on your call display. Find out more about these ongoing scams, and what you can do to protect yourself:

False financial advisor scam

Has your financial institution informed you of fraudulent activity on your account?
Your credit card has been cloned?
Are you being asked to provide personal and banking information over the phone?
Beware and refuse!
Fraudsters may start their calls by asking you to confirm your identity using the information they already have. Their goal? To get you to trust them!
Are you being asked to insert your payment cards and passwords in an envelope to be collected from your home by an advisor?
Refuse and hang up – it’s fraud!

Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) scam

You’ve been told you have to pay back an amount of tax money, and that you’ll be stopped by a police officer if you don’t pay immediately?
Hang up the phone! No government agency does this or makes such requests.

Grandparent scam

A member of your family (e.g. a grandson) claims to need money urgently because of a car accident, detention, hospitalization, etc.?
The last thing you should to do is breathe a word of this to anyone?
Don’t send any money right away! Validate the story presented to you and the identity of the person you’re communicating with by calling another family member or friend.
Even if you think you recognize the voice of someone close to you, you could be dealing with a fraudster. Agree on a secret code (e.g. a word or phrase) with family members that you can use in a similar situation. This code will help determine whether you are really communicating with a family member. Never broadcast this code on the Internet; talk directly to your family members.

Fake police officer scam

Do you have to pay back unpaid parking tickets?
Threatened with arrest if you refuse to provide your credit card number or buy cryptoactives?
Refuse and hang up on these fraudsters!

Still in doubt?

Take a step back. Don’t send any money. Don’t transmit any personal or banking information. From a reliable source, find the official telephone number of the suspected organization. Then call them to verify the validity of the request.