Beware of the scammer calls

Wouldn’t it be something if the Canucks win the Stanley Cup and bring it home? In 96/97, when they were in the playoffs, my husband and I were vacationing on Vancouver Island, staying at this beautiful beach, the sun setting on the ocean, a once in a lifetime, picture perfect view. I took the dog and we walked along the beach, waves rolling in. I heard a great cheer coming from our campsite and realized I was alone outside while everyone else was in their assorted campers, watching the game.

Monica Kapelar, originally trained in Smithers, further trained at the National Ballet, George Brown College, has settled in Smithers, sharing her love of dance with Creative Roots students, teaching ballet, modern and conditioning classes. Check out http://www.creativeroots.ca.

The Better Business Bureau is warning of phone calls that are fraudulently claiming to be from legitimate businesses, but are in fact scams meant to steal credit card numbers and other sensitive personal information. Most calls begin the same way: an automated or live caller contacts the person, referencing membership points and a prize, including bonus points, extra miles or a vacation. The caller then asks the person to provide their credit card information for verification. Companies advise they do not make unsolicited calls in which they request personal or financial information. In the case of Microsoft, the caller claims to be phoning about a serious problem with the person’s computer, warns that if the problem is not solved, the computer will become unusable. In order to “fix” it, the computer owner is directed to a website, told to download a program, plus pay a fee for a subscription to this preventative service. The catch: there was never anything wrong with the computer, the caller is not working for Microsoft and the owner has downloaded to their computer damaging software. Report any fraudulent activity to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1 (888) 495-8501, www.antifraudcentre.ca.

Smithers Community Radio, CICK, 93.9, the Voice of the Valley, 100 per cent volunteer involvement, looking for people to: tabulate play list logs into a database; chart what is played on air; update the website with top played tunes; catalog new music in the studio; promote tracks, CDs for DJs to play; maintain a CICK new music newsletter with reviews, features on latest artists; plan the occasional DJ party, DJ meetings; member/sponsor coordinator. Interested? Go to http://smithersradio.com/feedback. In case you wonder about my association with the station, I help out taking minutes at meetings and have begun a short program called “Porch Talk,” an easy 15 minutes of local chit-chat.

Remember the Scrabble Tournament on May 25 at the library. More information on the library website.

Getting ready for summer – houseandhome.com/homedepotdiy has tons of helpful educational information.

Closing with: Don’t carry a grudge. While you’re carrying a grudge, the other guy’s out dancing. Buddy Hackett.

 

Lorraine Doiron writes the weekly View from the Porch column.

Smithers Interior News