Money Tips Monday: Protecting yourself against scams, frauds – Okanagan [Video]

Heather Seminiuk doesn’t mince words when it comes to fraud.

“I kind of liken it to a new financial pandemic, if you will,” said Seminiuk, who works for Valley First, a division of First West Credit Union.

A branch manager in Keremeos, B.C., Seminiuk teaches seminars on the subject.

“Investment scams, grandparent scams, tech support scams, home improvement scams and the biggest one is the romance scam,” she said.

Another scam involves spoofing – a term that describes how a fraud artist unlawfully uses a legitimate phone number to contact potential victims.

Usually, the legitimate number is an official source, such as a local police detachment, which could result in the victim believing it’s an official call when it’s actually a scam.

For example, in December 2023, police in Windsor, Ont., issued a statement to local residents, saying “their phone number has been spoofed and is being used unlawfully to …