cam artists tried to trick a Princeton woman into giving away almost $4,000 from her bank account, but she wasn’t easily fooled.
The woman – who would like to remain anonymous – received a letter in the mail from a company in Ontario asking her if she would like to be a part-time mystery shopper to gather information for companies while incognito.
The package sent in the mail came with a phony $3988 cheque that the company says to use for expenses associated with being a mystery shopper.
Further instructions said to send thousands of dollars via Moneygram or Western Union to mystery shoppers in the United States.
The fraudulent company hopes the victim will send money from his or her personal bank account before trying to cash the cheque.
This means the unlucky person could be out $4,000, with a very low chance of seeing the money returned.
The Princeton woman brought the cheque to a local bank because she was suspicious of the scheme from the start.
They told her the cheque was fake after it didn’t clear.
If she had gone along with the phony assignments, she could have been down $4,000, provided she had that amount already in her bank account.
People receiving suspicious letters in the mail can contact the government’s anit-fraud centre at 1-888-495-8501 or online at www.phonebusters.com.
They should also contact the Princeton RCMP at 250-295-6911.
