‘Protect yourself’

Dear Editor:

I attended a recent presentation at 622 Squadron Headquarters at Waterloo Airport. The Speaker was Detective Constable Mike Payne of Waterloo Regional Fraud Squad, who highlighted both old-style scams and the latest schemes.

He informed us that most of the big scams are operated by organized crime cells that are typically headquartered in foreign countries and recruit local individuals to do their work.

These individuals are instructed to perform certain acts, which are merely part of a complicated chain of events that eventually leads to financial loss being experienced by the victim

Payne said police only get to hear from about 10 per cent of fraud victims, but that involved approximately $637 million last year. He noted police are two years behind on most investigations and said the chances of getting the money back is very slim. The main scams are crypto currency at the moment, but new scams are constantly being devised. Payne advised against using Facebook, especially with the new artificial intelligence systems now available, which can create extremely convincing presentations from the simplest of information.

Basically his message was that you must always assume everything is a potential scam and protect yourself accordingly.

Mac McCulloch,
Fergus