Fraud: hameçonnés by fake employees of Hydro-Québec

Catherine Bouchard

Tuesday, 27 march 2018 11:52

UPDATE
Tuesday, march 27, 2018 11:55

Look at this article

It is the turn of the Service de police de la Ville de Québec (SPVQ) of putting the population on guard against the fraud of phishing on the internet, three folders have been opened following complaints in the recent past.

In all three cases, the robbers had sent fraudulent emails, pretending to be employees of Hydro-Québec.

“The complainants receive a fraudulent e-mail [according to which] Hydro-Québec was charged amounts in excess on their electricity bill. The fraudsters then ask [] credit card numbers and other personal information in order to reimburse the person. The people who hand these information are then victims of fraud,” says Étienne Doyon, a spokesperson for the SPVQ.

In one of the folders, the fraud is more than $1000.

The amount of fraud that motivated the other two complaints has not been revealed.

No arrest has been made in respect of these cases. The surveys are conducted by the Unit of the frauds of the module of the crimes in the network.

The SPVQ reminds us that we should be very careful with e-mails and text messages. Fraudsters are mass mailing pretending to be the representatives of a company that is legitimate, to obtain personal or financial information, and steal funds to potential victims.

“The goal is to prevent, because there are so many cases of fraud,” says Doyon.

He said that official organizations never ask to disclose personal information in an email or text message.

This is one of many warnings made by various police services in march, a month of fraud prevention.

Various means of prevention have been implemented throughout the month. In the past five years, complaints of fraud have exploded in SPVQ and the Sûreté du Québec.

Tips to avoid becoming a victim of fraud:

• Protect your computer with protection software up to date;
• Delete unwanted e-mail;
• Don’t reply to spam;
• Never open any attachments and don’t click on the external links;
• Read the prevention tips given on the website of the City of Quebec, in the section “Police”.