When Anita Perry received a letter claiming to come from a British legal firm, she noticed some irregularities.
To begin, her name had been misspelled on the envelope and in the letter.
鈥淭hat was the first red flag,鈥� Perry said.
There were plenty of other irregularities as well, she said.
The logo at the top was fuzzy, the paragraph spacing was inconsistent, the capitalization was incorrect and the signature graphic was small and did not match the name.
The envelope was a prepaid bulk mail envelope, with a return address in Ontario, not the United Kingdom.
And the paper was thin and cheap.
鈥淔or an establishment purporting to handle millions of pounds, the paper quality is very poor,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou鈥檇 think they could find some pence to upgrade.鈥�
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The letter stated that a client of the legal firm had died, leaving an estate of around $53.4 million Canadian. According to the letter, the deceased client had not mentioned any beneficiary.
The letter then asked Perry to assist in claiming the funds, with 10 per cent of the estate to go to charity organizations, with the rest being split between Perry and the writer of the letter.
鈥淵ou have nothing to worry about as I assure you that this transaction is 100 per cent risk-free and would be processed under legitimate inheritance claim procedures,鈥� the letter stated. 鈥淚 will use my position as attorney of the deceased to successfully carry out this transaction with you.鈥�
Perry has reported the letter to the Summerland RCMP detachment.
Sgt. Paul Bentham of the Summerland RCMP detachment said there are plenty of scam attempts circulating, with many directed at seniors. While some come in the form of mail, others are done online or through text messaging.
He urges those who have been targeted by scammers to report the incident to the RCMP.
鈥淒on鈥檛 engage. Block the number,鈥� he said when suspicious text messages come in.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, a federal government agency, lists inheritance scams and foreign money scams on its website. Under this scam, the target is asked for help in transferring a large sum of money from one country to another and often comes from someone claiming to be a lawyer or a legal entity.
The scammer advises the target to pay one or more fees before the money can be released. However, the money does not exist and the victim does not receive anything.
According to policing statistics, the number of fraud cases reported to the Summerland RCMP detachment rose from 45 incidents in 2022 to 58 in 2023.
According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, 63,434 reports of fraud were processed in 2023, and $569 million was lost to fraud.
A session on scams, jointly presented by the RCMP, the Canada Revenue Agency and the Summerland Credit Union will be held at the Summerland Community Centre, 9710 Brown St. on Thursday, April 11 from 3 to 5 p.m. The session will cover ways to recognize scams, mesures to take for protection and what to do for those who fall victim to a scammer.
