One of the most common types of scams operating right now is a gift card scam. A caller will convince someone that, they need to send someone money - whether it鈥檚 a late payment, a pending fine, or any other reason - and that they need to send that money in the form of gift cards. The Yorkton RCMP, Yorkton Chamber of Commerce, Yorkton Business Improvement District and major Yorkton retailers have partnered together in order to help prevent this fraud through a local initiative.
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S/Sgt. Jeff Simpson said that over the past two years, the Yorkton RCMP has received approximately 310 complaints related to frauds within the jurisdiction. He said they are often changing their 鈥榮ales pitch鈥�, but they share one thing in common, they are trying to solicit funds from the victim. Sometimes, it鈥檚 through a direct transfer, but most cases it鈥檚 through alternative payment such as gift cards.
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鈥淕ift cards are a preferred method of victimization due to the fact that they鈥檙e virtually untraceable, universal across multiple jurisdictions and countries, and have a resale value on the black market,鈥� explained Simpson.
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The shifting nature of the fraud and the difficulty of reaching everyone in the region. The result was that, on Nov.12, a meeting between all major retailers who sell gift cards was conducted to try to find a solution to the issue.
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鈥淲e鈥檙e not able to hit everybody and protect everybody. The story that is 小蓝视频 given to these victims is continually changing, whether it鈥檚 a CRA scam today or your social insurance number has been compromised tomorrow, whatever the case may be. We can鈥檛 seem to gain significant ground in communicating that effectively and quickly, and reaching everybody as well.鈥�
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Simpson said that they realized they had to do something because fraud kept happening in the city. They thought that the next step was to put up more barriers to make sure they reach the people who are 小蓝视频 defrauded.
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鈥淣ot long before we decided to convene this group, we had a gentleman who had come into the detachment and had essentially been defrauded, and had purchased over $10,000 worth of gift cards. He came in, he was convinced he had to do this for some sort of purpose, he came into the detachment with a bag full of gift cards that he was instructed to purchase, and give the numbers over the phone to the fraudster. We said it was time for us to get creative and come up with another solution that could help with this, to prevent this.鈥�
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The program will limit the sale of gift cards to under $200, and any purchases over that amount will require a conversation with a manager to ensure that the purpose is not for a fraudulent purpose. All retailers will also post signage at the point of display as well as the cash registers, both to notify customers of the new policy and to show that they can do if they鈥檙e 小蓝视频 instructed to purchase these cards. Staff will also be educated on what to do if they suspect fraud, such as gift card purchases that don鈥檛 fit the customer - Simpson used the example of an 80 year old purchasing a stack of Google Play cards. Getting everyone on the same page was a priority, said Simpson, not only to show solidarity between businesses, but to ensure everyone is carrying the same amount of weight and businesses have the same policies.
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Retailers participating include Legacy Co-op, Circle K/Mac鈥檚 Convenience Store, Petro Canada, Save-on Foods, Superstore, Canadian Tire, WalMart, Staples, FasGas, Super-C, Esso, with support from the Yorkton Chamber of Commerce and Yorkton Business Improvement District.
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Bruce Thurston, General Manager of Legacy Co-op said that this fraud is something that they have seen in their stores.
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鈥淭hey prey on emotions, quite often of elderly people. They have a way of convincing them that they need to do this, to buy gift cards, that they鈥檙e going to get somebody out of trouble or they need something鈥� That鈥檚 not the case.鈥�
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He said he鈥檚 proud to see that retailers who are competitors have come together, collectively, to deter gift card fraud.
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鈥淲e look forward to telling the fraudsters that Yorkton鈥檚 closed to this type of activity.鈥�
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Simpson said that this is the first initiative from the group, but not the last, and they anticipate that businesses will share information on a real time basis.
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鈥淓very day there seems to be a new sort of fraud or a new sort of sales pitch that鈥檚 小蓝视频 communicated over the phone or through a variety of different means."
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He notes that with many of these schemes claiming to represent a government agency of authority, so if someone is contacted by a call that makes them suspicious, they should contact that agency directly, and that the transactions fraudsters demand are not ones that ever happen with the actual organization. While that is the first line of defense, this program serves as another line.
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"We recognize those sales pitches land on some of our vulnurable, that maybe aren't aware the pitches are too good to be true."听
