A resident of 100 Mile House is cautioning community members about an e-mail scam she recently encountered.
Maureen Menzies says the message came from her sister-in-law’s e-mail address, after someone had hacked into it, and was simply entitled “hi.”
“It went on to say that she is in Cypress, and she needs $3,000 ASAP and she’ll pay me back when she gets home, and to keep this between ourselves.”
Since the local resident knew her in-law would not be in a position to need any money, and was also aware she was not away at the time, Menzies called and notified her instead.
“Her e-mail had been hacked and everybody in her address book got this message.”
Although the fraudulent e-mail was likely sent from oversees, as her sister-in-law lives in Ireland, Menzies notes that since it arrived locally and came from a known address, she wants to let people know about it to help prevent anyone else in the community falling for a similar hoax.
For more information or to report a scam, contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501, e-mail info@antifraudcentre.ca or visit www.phonebusters.com.
