BEWARE OF FRAUD ON THE PHONE!!!!

Today my daughter answered the phone. When I walked into the room she said "You have just won a trip to the Caribbeans, press "9!" I said "No!"
and quickly pressed the goodbye button on my phone. I explained to her about phone fraud and why these people pick random phone numbers to do this.
I said this one, in particular, is tricky because as soon as you press "9", they have instant access to make long distance phone calls from YOUR phone.
Unsuspecting people would press the 9 because when all is said and done, doesn't a FREE vacation in the Caribbeans or Florida or somewhere else tropical, sound really good, especially if it's FREE!? Also, you would be charged and liable for the long distance phone calls on your monthly bills.

So, I've called some family members and told them about the phone call. And I should mention this is NOT the first phone call that we've gotten like this in the last four months. The last trip was in Floirda and I remember telling my twin sister about this. She thought I should have accepted but I said what if it's a scam. Turns out, I was right too! Imagine how many people out there aren't as suspicious as I am about these types of calls? Can you imagine the money these people are stealing from us innocent people. Like the lady at the RCMP office said, "If it sounds too good to be true, chances are, it is!"

I called the local police number as soon as we hung up. The lady told me that an e-mail regarding this very thing went out a few months ago to all the employees to warn them. I hope they call the local papers as well to place it in there for public notice. Because seriously if someone didn't know any better, this would sound good. I've never had the chance to go to Florida or the Caribbeans and if someone unsuspecting got this call, I wonder how many would accept. ~shrugs~

So, PLEASE make sure you tell all your family and friends. Make sure you explain these types of phone calls to your children, because in all fairness, they are highly NOT-suspicious of the criminals out there who make their living stealing from innocent people.

My husband whose a 911 operator, gets phone calls enquiring of this activity, said if you hang up, it's called Attempted Fraud and you should consider yourself lucky. But if you press the number they ask you to to accept, and you give them your personal information like Name, Address, Credit Card numbers etc...then it is indeed fraud. All local police agencies should be able to give you the fraud phone line. I am sure also that if you go on to your local Better Business Bureau website they will have information posted about frauds and such.

Again, please be careful, pass this along to your family, friends and especially to your young children who would just love to go to Florida!

Bonnie J. Poirier