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November 25, 2014 - 7:27 PM
KELOWNA - A 76-year-old woman thought she'd won a Publisher's Clearing House prize, but RCMP say she was a victim of a scam.
The Kelowna woman who lives in the area of Yates Road received a letter in the mail claiming she was the winner of the Publisher's Clearing House Lottery Awards Program. She called them using the phone number provided and answered several questions. She was then told a $5,000 deposit was made to her account which she quickly confirmed according to a media release from Kelowna RCMP.
"As it turns out, the letter was fraudulent and connected the woman with scammers," RCMP spokesperson Const. Kris Clark says. "Unfortunately, the questions she answered had compromised her personal banking information and the 'deposit' had actually been a transfer from one of her other accounts. In the process, the fraudsters also conveniently withdrew some money for themselves."
The woman has since taken steps to protect her finances.
The RCMP wants to remind residents that it's not possible to win a lottery without first purchasing a ticket or entering the sweepstakes. While anyone can buy tickets for foreign lotteries in the country of origin, nobody can buy one on your behalf. Lottery winners are not randomly selected from the White Pages of the phone book.
For more information on frauds and scams visit the RCMP Anti-Fraud Centre online.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infonews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2014