BC FORUM News

March, 2021

Scam season never ends

Posted March 2, 2021.

A personal experience contributed by a BC FORUM member who wishes to remain anonymous.

To all – yesterday we got an e-mail apparently from Canada Post claiming that we had a package that couldn’t be delivered for some reason. It asked that I “click” on the link in blue in the e-mail to connect to “shipping instructions”. This showed me a picture of a package but you can’t see any address information. It also provides a tracking number - the “tracking Number” is only 14 digits” whereas normal tracking numbers are 16 digits (all numbers or a combination of letters and numbers) - who knows that! - and when you click on “track your package”, it then takes you to a page where they ask you to enter your address, indicate whether you will pick it up or have it delivered, and also asks you to pay $3.00 for shipping. DO NOT DO THIS!!

This is a well-structured SCAM. It looks quite legitimate, but the giveaways are the incorrect tracking number and especially the request for you to pay a fee. I confirmed this information personally at the main Post Office today.

While the amount requested is relatively small, you will have to provide credit card information and/or bank information to pay the $3.00 fee. I have said before to NEVER EVER provide your personal and/or banking information on any request that arrives unsolicited, no matter who it appears to be from. If you have been duped, contact your credit card company and your bank ASAP to let them know so they can stop any payments and can track activity on your credit card and bank account that they might otherwise miss. In the end it is up to each of us to protect our information and to monitor our credit and bank accounts.

Feel free to share with all your friends and contacts. I expect that this fraud will be quite widespread, and will fool a lot of people – especially seniors