Crime prevention tip of the week

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Mystery shopping is, in some cases, an easy way to make money, but beware of the scams that disguise themselves as this line of work.

So you received an offer to be a secret shopper. All you have to do is cash a cheque and buy gift cards and pre-paid credit cards and send them to an address and keep the rest of the money. It's easy and a great way to make a little holiday money. Wrong.

This is a scam. Not only will you be on the hook for everything you bought and shipped off, you'll be paying the non-sufficient funds fee for the check that just failed to clear. Please do not fall for this scam. I myself have received a couple in the last month.

Do secret shoppers exist? Yes they do, but they are employees of the corporation who want to use them and they work out of that corporations' offices. They are trained to measure how employees behave and respond to situations; that and they don't buy gift cards. As a rule they purchase items off the shelf and often require at least some employee interaction.

While we are talking about buying gift cards and pre-paid Visa and MasterCards there is another problem.

No government agency, most particularly Revenue Canada, is going to tell you that you have an outstanding debt in back taxes and that they are going to arrest you, your sister or your mother if you don't pay right now. The only way to escape these mass arrests is to run out today and either send prepaid Visa or MasterCards or wire money to an address. I'm hoping this sounds as silly to you as it does me because it is.

If you receive a letter or email or text from someone claiming to be a government agency and that you owe money that needs to be paid as soon as possible please look into it. Do not call the number on that request for money. Do your own research to find a number for that agency and call them yourself and ask.

Government agencies don't need to use these kinds of tactics. They have your social insurance number. They can stop, take or deduct from your tax return this year, plus a generous service fee of course.

If you fall prey to one of these scams, any money you send will be gone with no chance of recovery. So please be careful.

If you have questions about this or any other crime prevention concerns please feel free to contact Steve Hartwick with Campus Security Services either by phone at 519-452-4430 ext. 4929 or email at shartwick@fanshawec.ca.