Summerside police offer fraud workshop for seniors

Police in Summerside, P.E.I., are stepping up efforts to give seniors the tools to deal with scams and fraud over the phone and through email.

The East Prince Seniors Initiative is hosting a workshop Tuesday to show how people can protect themselves.

The workshop is being run by Det. Cpl. Ron MacLean, with the major crimes unit of the Summerside police.

Seniors often need to be more assertive, he said.

"It just seems that they are more trusting," MacLean said.

"The 'grandparents scam,' when you get somebody calling claiming to be a grandson, a lot of the people we talked to didn't want to question the caller any further.

"They just accepted the fact that it actually was a long-lost grandchild or relative or something like that and eagerly gave them money trying to help out their family."

MacLean said that while the number of fraudulent calls and emails to people have increased, few are reported to police.

Just last week, Summerside police issued a warning about two scams found locally, a "secret shopper" job offer and a rebate offer from Bell.

MacLean said anyone receiving a call from a bank or a business that seems legitimate should still contact someone from their website or visit them in person to verify the call.

The fraud workshop takes place Tuesday at 10 a.m. at the East Prince Seniors Initiative.