Businesses warned about fake relief scam
Businesses are being warned about a scam that is circulating involving fake COVID-19 relief programs by fraudsters posing as government employees or agencies and, in some cases, friends and coworkers.
Peter Moorhouse, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau in Halifax, said the scam started showing up last year around the same time that businesses were suddenly impacted by the pandemic and the Canadian government was rolling out programs to help them out.
"What happens in the wake of all that chaos and all those announcements is that unfortunately scammers realize there is an opportunity to be had, and that's where these scams started to be perpetuated and then reported later on through the course of the year," he said.
"In an environment of confusion where circumstances are changing very, very rapidly, unfortunately it becomes easier to capitalize on that confusion."
The scam involves a business owner being contacted by phone or email by someone posing as a government agency or a legitimate organization asking if the business is taking advantage of a particular COVID-19 relief package or grant unaware to the owner.
The scammer then offers to sign up the business owner right away and even indicates that the owner is eligible for thousands of dollars in funding. The business owner is asked to submit a processing or delivery fee to receive the funding, which, if submitted, will "disappear for good”, according to a press release on Tuesday.
Scammers are also hacking social media accounts of a business owner's friend and sending the grant information that way by posing as a friend or a co-worker. In other cases, a scammer may copy a friend or co-worker's personal information and photo and create a separate, look-alike social media account and use it to message the business owner.
The BBB says one business owner was contacted by someone posing as the company's bookkeeper using a hacked Facebook account. The owner was encouraged to apply for a grant and then went to a website and filled out a form.
The business owner realized that the offer was sketchy when she was asked to pay a processing fee to receive the grant.
Several reports of the scam have been reported in Atlantic Canada, but in other parts of the country where the pandemic is having a greater impact on businesses, the scam is being reported more frequently, said Moorhouse.
The Better Business Bureau has some tips on how to avoid being conned out of money from this scam.
In general, you don't pay money to get "free money" or, in this case, a government grant. The government doesn't require people to pay a fee to receive a government grant. The BBB encourages people to check with the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada for information about business grants.
Before signing up and filling in forms, check out the organization claiming to offer a grant by going to its website as well as look at consumer reviews. Also, find the organization's official website and contact someone about the grant to make sure that it's legitimate. Finally, be cautious of social media messages about dubious grants from friends because the message could be from someone who hacked into the friend's account or created a new, phony account with the friend's personal information and photo.