The Service de police de l'agglomération de Longueuil is warning the public to beware of "false representative" frauds

The Service de police de l'agglomération de Longueuil is warning the public to beware of "false representative" frauds, when ill-intentioned individuals pretend to be employees of financial institutions.

Scheme

The ploy used by these fraudsters begins with a phone call to a vulnerable senior citizen, leading him or her to believe that there has been a fraudulent transaction on his or her bank card. In an insistent tone, the bogus representative tells the victim that action is urgently needed to rectify the situation, and asks them to provide their personal identification number (PIN). The fraudster then instructs the victim to insert his or her bank card into an envelope, and that a letter carrier or other person will pick up the envelope and return it to the financial institution. A uniformed accomplice then takes over, quickly arriving at the victim's residence to retrieve the envelope and leave.

Prevention tips

• Never trust what's written on your call display, as scammers use applications that allow them to write down the names of financial institutions;
• Never give out personal information over the phone;
• Remember that financial institutions never ask their customers to hand over bank cards or reveal their personal identification number (PIN);
• Tell the caller you'll call them back. In 99% of cases, criminals will hang up because they don't want to leave a contact number;
• Never give in to pressure;
• Always consult a trusted family member or friend to validate the information you receive;
• When in doubt, don't hesitate to consult your financial institution, either in person or using an official number, or contact your local police department;
• Remember that letter carriers do not collect money from individuals. Nor do they collect mail for financial institutions from their customers' homes.