people amber moyer flr safety
Constable Amber Moyer

The Portage la Prairie RCMP is reminding the public to never share personal information. Two scams have been circulating in the area, and Constable Amber Moyer says one of those comes in the form of a letter, informing you a person has passed away and has unclaimed funds in their estate.

"It says that there are no known relatives and they're asking for your information so they can release those funds to you. Basically, they're wanting you to send your information which I can only assume will put you at risk for identity theft."

Another scam that's targeted Portagers is known as the secret shopper scam. The suspects will contact you with a job offer to become a secret shopper, even providing a cheque to cover the cost of your purchases. Moyer says a local man was targeted by the scam, and brought the cheque to police.

"Before doing anything for the company, which I can only presume is not legitimate, they sent this person a cheque for a few thousand dollars. It turned out to be a fraudulent cheque from a legitimate company in the U.S.A. They're trying to pass fraud cheques around."

Moyer says once you spend that money, you'd likely be on the hook to pay it back. Moyer says the best course of action to prevent becoming a victim of fraud is to ensure you never give out your personal information.

"Don't respond, don't give out any personal information. You can report it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre online, or they have a phone number. You can report it to your local RCMP detachment or your local police department. Don't respond to the correspondence, don't email them back, and never give out personal information."

If you believe you've been targeted by you can contact the Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501.