A Clyde resident is warning people in the area to be aware of a new type of fraud she fell victim to.
Glorya Garand felt fortunate when after asking for more information about a job opportunity she found on the Internet. Unfortunately, she soon realized she had been caught up in an expensive con.
“I replied to an Internet ad that promised to hook you up with a job, that with your abilities and what you have available, you can make some money from home,” she said. “It was just to hook you up to an employment you could fulfill.”
She got a letter, which did not list the name of a company, saying she could work as a secret shopper with specific instructions of businesses to check out and a cheque for $3,991.88.
She deposited the cheque to her bank, she said, and asked them to put a hold on it to ensure everything was on the level. She later checked with the bank and was told the money had cleared, but the next day she got a phone call saying the cheque was a fraud.
The alleged secret shopper opportunity involved a trip to Wal-Mart for some small purchases and more importantly, a trip to Canada Post.
“I was asked to go to Canada Post, and check out Canada Post by sending a MoneyGram to Jack Colins in New York, NY,” she said. “I was to report how it was handled, what kind of ID they asked for, and so on.”
After sending $3,800 to New York, she discovered the cheque had been fraudulent and she was on the hook for the money.
She has been in touch with the RCMP and other fraud prevention agencies about the issue, and has been told they’ve seen this before.
The letter came from an address in Centreville, Ont., and the phone numbers she was given are in a western Quebec area code and a Detroit-area area code.
She said she hopes if anyone else encounters this type of alleged job opportunity, they contact police about it and if they deposit a cheque, they leave it in the bank for at least 30 days to determine if it is a fake. As for her, she said, she’s stuck paying the money out of her own savings.
“I’m a senior citizen; I don’t need this kind of hassle,” she said.
