With growth, will come the swindlers

Consider it a warning of what may be to come.

Bilkers, flim flamers, fraud artists, scammers and swindlers, they’ll all be hearing the news of the potential of Prince Rupert and be looking for their share.

Patricia Bowles of the B C Securities Commission was in Prince Rupert this week, speaking at a Rotary Club function Thursday where she issued the warning that with growth will come the arrival of those looking to fraudulently separate you from your money.

Ms. Bowles enlightened the audience to the fact that only 14% of all frauds are reported, with the remaining 86% of those affected suffering their losses in silence and in many cases it’s a burden that takes its toll on their families. She offered some advice on how you could avoid becoming one of the more than a million Canadians victimized every year by disreputable people with nothing but their own self interest at heart.

The Daily news featured a review of her presentation in Friday’s paper.



‘Prepare to meet the fraudsters as Rupert grows’
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, May 25, 2007
Page one

Close to a million Canadians a year lose money in financial frauds and scams and on average, more of that is happening in British Columbia than other provinces, say representatives of provincial government agency that regulates securities trade.

Patricia Bowles, director of communications with the B.C. Securities Commission, said while the national average is four per cent of the public who are defrauded, in B.C. that rate is about five per cent.

"We seem to have a much higher per centage of these folks here in British Columbia," she said, speaking to the Prince Rupert Rotary Club on Thursday.

"The effects of losing all your savings is as serious as violent crime - people lose families, develop health problems and can't put their kids through school."

She said that today's financial fraudsters are sophisticated - they play on people's hopes and fears to swindle them out of their money.

Of the 900,000 Canadians that are swindled each year, 12 per cent of the victims lose more than $25,000 and 70 per cent of the time, none of that is recovered.

Many of those who are defrauded are not likely to report the incident because they are embarrassed or ashamed.

"Only 14 per cent of fraud attempts are reported," she said. "But as Prince Rupert grows and the port grows, they (fraudsters) will be here."

The B.C. Securities Commission is focused on prevention through their Invest Right program, featuring a Red-Flags communications campaign designed to alert investors about popular fraudulent schemes.

Investors can educate themselves about common scams, learn what questions to ask when investing and run opportunities through a scam metre' that helps them identify red flags all on the InvestRight web site, www.investright.org.

Valerie MacLean, executive director of the B.C. Crime Prevention Association, said prevention is really the key to stopping fraud.

"Once that money goes offshore, you are not going to get it back," she said.

One of the newer scams businesses should be aware of is the overpayment scam.

In this scam, a business is contacted for a large purchase and sent a United States cashier's cheque to pay for those items or services. The business deposits the cheque in anticipation of the transaction occurring, however that cheque can take up to five weeks for the bank to cash.

In the meantime, the fraudsters contacts the business to say they have over booked or over purchased and asks for a refund of half the cheque.

The business sends the refund before the original cashier's cheque is processed fully, then the original cheque bounces and the business is out thousands of dollars.

In one instance, a hotel lost $15,000 after being scammed this way when a fraudulent company booked $30,000 in rooms.

She added that anyone who wants to eliminate the possibility of having pre-authorized credit card junk mail used in identity theft or who wants to get telemarketers off their backs can register for a no call' list at www.the-cma.org, the Canadian Marketing Association's web site.

If people do get calls after they have registered, all they have to do is notify the company calling that they are on the no call' list and the calls will stop.