With Fraud Prevention Month coming to a close, OPP want you to know that phishing scams are still out there. In 2014 alone, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) identified over one thousand people as victims who lost more than 245 thousand dollars. Phishing is an email scam that looks like it’s coming from a legitimate organization, asking for personal and/or financial information. Here are some tips from OPP and CAFC on how to recognize and avoid these scams:
- Protect your computer with anti-virus software, spyware filters, email filters and firewall programs
- Contact the financial institution immediately and report your suspicions
- Do not reply to any email that requests your personal information
- Look for misspelled words
- Always report phishing or ‘spoofed’ emails