LUMBY – A story we hear all too often is local residents being targeted by scammers online.
Now a Lumby woman is speaking out sharing her story and hoping to warn others.
Cindy Severin was told she’d won $200,000 but needed to provide information and money before she would get her cash. In this case, the scammers even masqueraded as one of her relatives.
It started on Wednesday with Facebook messages that appeared to be from her aunt, asking when Cindy Severin’s winnings had been delivered. The account used her aunt’s name and picture but it wasn’t her aunt’s regular account.
Severin wasn’t aware of having won any money, but the account appearing to belong to her aunt suggested she contact another Facebook user, the so called ‘claim agent lawyer’, to receive her purported winnings.
“At first they were saying that I won $200,000, and they were asking for my ID information, so I gave that to them with hesitation,” Severin says.
Severin ended up sending pictures of her passport and healthcare card via Facebook. She provided other personal information and that is something she is now worried about.
But that wasn’t all her new Facebook contact wanted. Severin was asked to pay $850 for a “case file and FedEx delivery fee.” Fortunately she figured out there was a problem before sending money and called the local RCMP.
“There is no question there is a scam here,” says Lumby RCMP Cst. Ted Bowen. “Don’t give out your personal information online. It is a scam that is being run regularly. They are sending it out to millions of people and they might get a couple people that bite on it. That is all they need.”
Severin is now speaking out hoping to warn others.
“It has really opened my eyes. I don’t want to be played for a fool or anybody else to be played like this,” she says.
Fedex has confirmed this is not how they operate and the company was not involved in anyway. The company says it has reported the case to their own customer protection centre and anyone who encounters a similar issue can also report it at abuse@fedex.com.
Meanwhile, Facebook says this type of use is not allowed on their site.
“Impersonation accounts, and lottery scams, are not allowed on Facebook. We will remove any instance that we see of this happening, as per our Community Standards,” wrote a Facebook spokesperson in an email.
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