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Nanaimo woman falls for online prize scam, RCMP warn others

Scammer poses as Publishers Clearing House, promises grand prize
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Nanaimo RCMP issued a warning after a woman was fooled by a scammer posing as Publishers Clearing House online. (Stock photo)

It turned out that a grand prize win of $150,000 was indeed too good to be true for a Nanaimo woman.

RCMP issued a press release Tuesday, Feb. 9, about a woman who was scammed $1,700 after being forwarded via Facebook a fraudulent link from someone posing as Publishers Clearing House. Police say the woman began to correspond with the fraudster about a month ago and followed instructions to send $1,700 in order to claim the grand prize. After that, all correspondence stopped.

“Needless to say, she did not win the grand prize,” noted the press release. “This type of scam is very common and unfortunately many fall for it.”

RCMP remind people that legitimate lotteries will not require people to send money in advance of claiming a prize.

For more information about current scams, visit www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca.

READ ALSO: ‘I wanted it to be true so badly’: Sooke senior narrowly avoids lottery scam

READ ALSO: Nanaimo senior fooled by ‘grandson scam,’ even after warning from bank teller



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