A woman in western P.E.I. spent the weekend taking phone calls from worried friends after she fell victim to a type of scam RCMP say is becoming more common.
'I can't trust anybody anymore.'— Norma Gallant
Someone cracked Sister Norma Gallant's Yahoo e-mail account and sent a message to everyone one in her address book. The message said she was in England, had lost her wallet, and didn't have any money to pay her hotel bill. The e-mail asked the recipients to send money.
Gallant had never left her home in Wellington.
"It has made me feel like, oh my God, I can't trust anybody anymore," she told CBC News Monday.
"If I can't trust that — it made me kind of doubt everything and everybody."
Const. Troy MacLean of the RCMP's commercial crime unit on P.E.I. said this type of fraud is becoming more common. So far this year, 98 people in Canada have been victims of similar scams and people have lost close to $3 million.
"That's why it's important for us to tell people, to warn people, about not giving personal information," said MacLean.
"Delete e-mails that you're not certain if the person who's sending it is known to you, especially, and if they are known to you … always follow up by contacting them directly."
Gallant actually gives workshops to seniors on how to avoid fraud and scams.
She said it is nice to know so many people were worried about her, but this was a hard way to learn that.
Share Tools
Latest Prince Edward Island News Headlines
- Liquor store discussion heats up legislature
- The Opposition raised questions in the provincial legislature Friday over the decision to close the Wood Islands liquor store. more »
- EI rules will hurt primary trades, says P.E.I. premier
- While reaction continues to brew over Thursday's announcement about changes to the Employment Insurance program, P.E.I. Premier Robert Ghiz says provincial officials will be meeting with the federal government to discuss how the new rules will affect Islanders. more »
- HST to hit low-income earners hardest
- Although the proposed harmonized sales tax is good for business, it will hit low-income Islanders the hardest when it's rung in next April, said economists. more »
- Charlottetown businessman named to Order of Canada
- Charlottetown's Fred Hyndman was inducted as a member of the Order of Canada Friday. more »
Top News Headlines
- Everest victim's husband says family not seeking government help
- The husband of a Toronto woman who died trying to climb Mt. Everest on Saturday says his family is not seeking government help to cover the cost of bringing his wife's body home. more »
- Employment Insurance review boards to be scrapped
- The federal government is scrapping two review boards used by people appealing decisions made about their employment insurance. more »
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Raw stories about bullying emerged when a video booth was set up inside a Quebec high school. more »
- Serial carjacker gets life term for fatal crash
- An Ontario judge was moved to tears while delivering a life prison sentence to a serial carjacker who killed a woman and injured five others after driving a stolen van into her car during a 2010 police chase. more »
- EI rules will hurt primary trades, says P.E.I. premier
- P.E.I. quality of life second-worst, says study
- HST to hit low-income earners hardest
- 902 numbers running out in N.S., P.E.I.
- Islanders worried over EI changes
- Charlottetown businessman named to Order of Canada
- Atlantic Lottery replacing old VLTs
- Tourism P.E.I. handed out $60,000 in free golf passes
- Red Shores Raceway's fastest horse put down
