Beware of fraudulent emails from Peachland.
That’s the warning the District of Peachland issued on Friday, saying it’s been made aware of fake emails supposedly originating from the town.
“The District urges people to be cautious of phishing scam emails,” a public service announcement said on Friday.
“They are attempts to steal personal information from you by using emails that appear to be from trusted sources.”
To avoid being scammed, the district says there can be clues an email isn’t legitimate, including:
- Urgent or threatening language
- Misspellings and grammatical errors
- Unsolicited links and attachments
- Requests for personal information
- Discrepancies in email addresses and domain names
The district says residents should delete any suspicious emails.
Police across the nation have issued multiple statements recently regarding unsolicited emails.
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“Phishing scams have gained in popularity in recent years, and are ploys by fraudsters to obtain an unsuspecting person’s personal or financial information,” said the RCMP.
To gain that information, fraudsters use these common methods:
- By email or a website with a fake name (spoofing)
- An urgent request
- Offers of money or refunds
- Requests to click links
- Requests to fill out forms online
- Requests to scan a QR code
“Fraudsters will usually pose as a trusted entity, such as a government agency or your financial institution,” said the RCMP.
“Once a victim’s personal information is obtained, the information can be used to commit other frauds.”
As an example, police said a fraudster can create fake identity documents with a victim’s name and personal details on it.
“They can subsequently apply for credit in the victim’s name and disappear with the money,” said the RCMP.
Like the District of Peachland, police say don’t click on links or download attachments in unsolicited messages by text, email or social media, and to look for spelling errors.
“Don’t trust messages just because the email address looks legitimate,” said the RCMP.
“Keep in mind no government or law enforcement agency will ever contact you to offer funds via email or e-transfer.”
More information about scams and fraud is available on the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.