Scams target lonely, jobless people
HALIFAX — Scammers have sunk to a new low and found ways during COVID19 to con people out of their money, especially when the potential victims are isolated and lonely, or desperate for a job.
"It's heartbreaking and maddening," said Peter Moorhouse, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau (serving Atlantic Canada) in Halifax.
"Quite literally, I do not know how these people sleep at night. It's like preying on somebody when they're most vulnerable, when they're already lonely and already feeling down. And to layer this on top, it's absolutely heartless."
Moorhouse said he's seen an increase in two scams in particular during COVID-19 — puppy scams and employment scams.
PUPPY SCAM
Moorhouse said that puppy scams are preying on people who are feeling lonely during COVID-19 and are seeking companionship. The scam is also taking advantage of people's compassion since, for example, the so-called owner will say he lost his job and can no longer take care of the puppy.
"They also provide cover for why a buyer wouldn't be able to see the puppy in person before purchasing because, of course, of distancing requirements and quarantine," he said.
The buyer sends the scammer money, and a random location is selected for the pick-up. Moorhouse knows someone living just outside of Halifax whose address has been used as this fake puppy pickup spot in the past couple of years.
"Every now and then, they have somebody show up at their door fully expecting to pick up a puppy and have to deliver the news — not only is there no puppy, but they've also been scammed out of money."
In Canada and the U.S., Moorhouse said the BBB has about 4,000 complaints of puppy scams so far this year. In April, there were more reports of puppy scams that month than in the previous three months combined, and in November, there were 337 complaints compared to 77 the previous November.
EMPLOYMENT SCAM
Moorhouse has also seen an increase during COVID-19 of scammers targeting people who have either permanently or temporarily lost their jobs or who have had their hours reduced and need money. He explained that typically scammers find potential victims who have uploaded their resumes on an online job site. The scammer then sends a message to the job seeker claiming to be a hiring manager for a company. Moorhouse said the fake positions are almost always administrative and work-from-home jobs.
These scams are usually targeting a victim's personal and financial information, for example, banking information to deposit pay cheques as well as someone's banking PIN and social insurance number.
The more common aspect of this scam involves overpayment. The scammer tells a so-called new employee that their first responsibility is to receive a cheque (that looks authentic), deposit it, use the money to purchase a number of items and then electronically wire the remaining amount to a third-party. A few days later, the scam victim gets a call from their bank saying that the cheque was not valid.
INTIMIDATION
Moorhouse is also concerned about a scam in the Halifax area that involves someone getting a phone call and the caller saying he has access to their banking information. The potential victim had to stay on the phone, go to one branch of her bank, withdraw, for example, $5,000 and then go to another branch and withdraw the same amount. The victim was then required to deposit the full amount into a Bitcoin machine in a specific account. If she hangs up or doesn't follow the instructions, the scammer says he'll cut her off from her bank account and withdraw the money. Moorhouse said he recently spoke with someone at a bank who prevented the scam because the money was tied to an investment fund and needed authorization.
Moorhouse said it's unlikely that a scammer has this type of access but, regardless, the person should just hang up and go immediately to their bank.
"The only tool they have is your uncertainty about doing that in that moment," he said. "That's one technique that scammers use to prey on people when they're most vulnerable and, therefore, at their highest risk of making an error. The other tactic is intimidation — just the fear at pushing you into making a decision on the spot that you wouldn't ordinarily make in a better frame of mind."