There are a couple potential scams going on currently of which Saugeen Shores Police feel people should be made aware.

The first one is a Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) scam where a call is made indicating you owe the CRA money. Whether or not you owe the government money in back taxes should already be known to you. Saugeen Shores Police Chief Dan Rivett said in a press release that the best course is to simply hang up and don’t waste your time listening to them.

If you have a concern about your account with CRA, call them directly. Don’t use the number provided to you by one of these callers, instead look it up in the blue pages or Google it.

The CRA would never ask you to mail them a prepaid credit card or wire money through Western Union. Hang up immediately, advise the police so they can warn others and do not send money.

The second scam is an “Urgent Notice” mailer indicating you have an unclaimed reward of a sum of money, usually $100, in gas or groceries. This could actually be true, however Chief Rivett spent some time spoke the people, Consumer Services based out of Montreal, Quebec and the person he spoke with indicated that at some point someone answered a survey, either in print, online or through a pop up ad on the computer. This person may have expressed interest in travel or some other activity and provided a name and mailing address. The person is sometimes advised this could be airline tickets minus the taxes or hotel rooms. This will progress into other offers that will eventually cost money.

While it does not appear to be a scam it is a marketing ploy to get you talking to them and is not illegal. Chief Rivett’s advise is to put the mailer in the blue box and don’t call the number provided. They tend to be high pressure sales people and are good at what they do.

Keep your hard earned money. There is no free money out there, you do not win contests you did not enter and it never costs you money to get a prize you have won.