Eckville Credit Union - Protecting you and your money.

'Gypsies' scam (Posted: February 26, 2010)

Edmonton Police Service is advising consumers to be aware of the following scam that recently occurred in Edmonton. This type of criminal activity is very well known in Britain, Europe and now Canada. The perpetrators are called "Gypsies".

Details of the scam:
This particular incident involved 3 families of criminals who came to Edmonton and were staying at a hotel for 5-6 weeks. They paid with a preloaded credit card as a deposit but never paid the bill (avoided staff for weeks). When group tried to leave they were questioned. The main leader then paid for the rooms with a CIBC cheque for $11,000.00, which was later found to be NSF, written on an account from a CIBC in Calgary to a box number from Red Deer.

The suspects are listed as:

white male English accent 50 years and his wife;
white male English accent 22-32 and his wife;
white male English accent 28-35 and his wife and 2 young children;

Police learned that the credit card is a valid card in suspect's name and had been used all over Canada. Police determined that in the fall of 2009, there was a file from Halifax with the same suspects related to another hotel fraud.

Police contacted a CBSA (Immigration) Intel officer. There is a file on this group that reveals the following information:

The suspects are of Irish decent but from UK (UK passports).
This group is heavily involved in driveway scams and home renovation scams all over Western Canada.
They left Edmonton and went to Saskatoon.
Some of the suspects were arrested for immigration violations for working without permits and deported. They are then replaced by others.
They conduct renovation scams during the winter and driveway scams in the summer.
They like to rent vehicles from Enterprise or other legitimate rental companies and usually pay their bills.
This group prints out thousands of business cards with the address listed to a mail box address and hands them out to get business.
When things get hot, they change box addresses and phone numbers and disappear (sometimes to different parts of Canada but have been known to go to Australia and the US).
They stay in camp sites when they are here and move frequently. They also stay in hotels.
They are very heat/surveillance conscious. It appears they also change cell phones frequently.
When arrested this group is very unco-operative and have been known to run from investigators and carry weapons.

Overpayment Fraud/Scheme (Posted: June 22, 2009)

An Alberta credit union has reported that one of their members received a suspected fraudulent bank draft drawn on the Bank of Nova Scotia, 1151 Weston Road, Toronto, ON in the amount of $3,000.00.

Their member was instructed to wire funds through Western Union to the sender of the bank draft for “shipping costs”. The credit union has received the bank draft back for the reason of “domicile incorrect”.

All members should be on the alert should a similar cheque be received, as this appears to be an overpayment fraud/scheme.

Counterfeit Cheque Occurrence – Overpayment Fraud (Posted: May 29, 2009)

An Alberta credit union has reported that one of their members received a counterfeit cheque from a company in Toronto.

The cheque was sent to their member with a letter to complete a survey for Western Union. The letter indicated that the member would receive $200.00 for completing the survey, however the cheque that was sent to the member was for $2,180.54. The member was to contact an individual at 1-289-633-9913 to proceed with the assignment.

The credit union has contacted the company in Toronto, and they verified that the cheque is fraudulent.

Members should be on the alert should a similar cheque be presented for negotiation, as this appears to be an overpayment fraud/scheme.

This occurrence has been reported to police.

Loan Scam (Posted: April 17, 2009)

On April 11, 2009, an Alberta credit union received a phone call from Atlanta, Georgia. The caller informed the credit union that a website he had seen was offering loans. He had been told that the credit union would be funding his proposed loan. This was false information. The credit union had no knowledge of, or dealings with, the website.

The loan broker company was identified as:
McFadden Associated – Christopher White at 1-866-991-9796 Ext. 87

This company had asked the caller (loan applicant) for $600.00 in advance and then the loan amount would be released to him. This was obviously a trick to get the loan applicant to send $600.

Credential Warns of Telephone Scam (Posted: February 12, 2009)

On Wednesday, February 11, Credential received isolated reports that two Saskatchewan credit union clients had been contacted by individuals fraudulently affiliating themselves with Credential. The callers claimed to be conducting a telephone survey on behalf of Credential and encouraged clients to divulge private financial information including branch affiliation.

Please be aware that Credential is not conducting any research at this time and any requests your clients receive to participate should be considered a scam.

Further, we would like to reassure you that we would never ask for this type of information in a telephone survey. On the rare occasion that we do conduct surveys, it is always in partnership with credit unions. Credential adheres to the industry code of standards, privacy and ethics defined by the Market Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA) and uses highly reputable partners for any research or surveys.

Fraudulent Text Messages and Emails (Posted: February 5, 2009)

Certain members have been receiving text messages or emails advising that their debit cards may have been compromised. The members are asked to phone a certain number and provide their card number etc.

Be advised that no legitimate financial institution will contact you in this manner. Never provide your financial information to anyone unless you have initiated the contact and you can be sure that the information will be safeguarded.