In the previous week, Altona Detachment has received two reports of email accounts being hijacked with requests to forward money for an emergent situation.
The email fraud goes like the following:
Regular email exchanges occur between two parties i.e. friends or family, we’ll call them Mr. Smith and Mr. Brown. Mr. Smith is in Manitoba. Mr. Brown is vacationing abroad. Regular, routine and legitimate exchanges occur between the two until Mr. Brown suddenly requests Mr. Smith send money for an emergent situation. In one instance, when confirmation was requested via a telephone call, the recipient made an excuse that he was having difficulty “getting a line out” from Mexico.
It has been determined, in between the legitimate exchanges, Mr. Brown’s email account has been breached and a new email account set up in his name. The return address is minutely different than Mr. Brown’s legit address, for example it will have a dash (-) rather than an underscore (_), or a slight change in the spelling of the name, for example, Freisen rather than Friesen.
Police advise the public not to respond to these e-mails and to monitor your email accounts carefully. Do not forward cash, cheques or money wire transfers. If your email account is breached contact your service provider and local police service.
The following website is a Canadian government site that explains all types of frauds, prevention and reporting.
www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca
It helps to educate oneself on various methods these people/groups use to trick their target victims.
