Police warn public over phishing scams

By Alexandra Noad - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on July 20, 2024.

A new phishing scam of fake missing person posts are circling around social media, and Lethbridge police are urging the public to verify information on the internet before sharing.

Police have noticed an influx of posts, primarily targeted to Facebook Buy and Sell groups, of missing pets, children and wandering seniors, with the intent of tugging on the heartstrings of well-meaning individuals.

The phishing scam uses a bait-and-switch tactic with the scammers, then changes the post to say the person won something and to click the link, hoping someone will trust the sharer. The link will then prompt the victim to input personal information which the scammer will use to steal money from the victim.

Sgt. Kevin Talbot, with the economic crimes unit of the Lethbridge Police Service advises the public to verify information before sharing it.

“There are always scammers looking for a new way to reach out to new victims and this is just another one of those ways that they’re doing it,” Talbot says. “People just need to be aware that it’s happening and to get a second opinion about whether or not what they’re reposting is actually accurate or not.”

Talbot encourages the public to check police websites to verify if a person is missing. And he warns about the dangers of clicking links provided through social media.

“Never ever use links or website addresses that are contained within the original post you received. What a lot of scammers will do is say ‘go ahead and click on the link.’ Behind the scenes it’s going to be a scammers website.”

Talbot also advises the people to wary when they being asked for money or personal information.

“I just want to re-emphasize, regardless of what information you’re getting or if you’re being asked to invest or send money somewhere, always get a second opinion. Always do your research.”

If people find a phishing scam and haven’t suffered any loss they can report it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, which is managed by the RCMP and will help police agencies train their staff on similar crimes.

“They collect this kind of data and then they share with police agencies so we can we can focus our attention on these types of crimes and focus our training on these types of crimes.”

If someone has suffered loss from the scam, Talbot says it should be reported directly to the police for an investigation.

Talbot says people can never be too careful when it comes to fact-checking on social media.

“It’s disturbing, but it’s something that the public has to do. We just can’t assume that if you received it that it’s accurate. We have to have that mindset and we’re slowly changing that. Most people have been able to figure that part out, but everyone is vulnerable at some point in time and we might just simply forget to do that and get scammed.”