Scams aplenty
Two different scams were reported to the Innisfail RCMP.
On Dec. 13, a local resident let the police know someone had called him purporting to be an agency that could help him get a lower interest rate on his credit card. He provided his information, resulting in a “significant” amount of money being taken out as a cash advance on his credit card.
Cpl. Jeff Hildebrandt said when the cash advance was withdrawn the credit card company contacted the consumer, who was protected from the loss.
The second scam reported to the RCMP has been around for awhile – cold-calling homes and offering to fix slow or virus-infected computers remotely.
“It's a scam that's been prolific since March 2010,” Hildebrandt said. He said it's been found to exist internationally.
How it works is the caller gets access to a computer remotely and asks for payment via credit card.
On Dec. 16 a local victim reported they'd been impacted by the scam.
Hildebrandt reminded the public that they shouldn't give out their information over the phone when they've been cold-called.
Copper theft
Copper was stolen from an electric company in Innisfail on Dec. 15.
“This is a chronic problem,” Hildebrandt said. He said copper is currently worth a lot of money and businesses should take precautions.
Don't drink and drive
“During the month of December we've increased our checkstops and our visibility to the public,” Hildebrandt said.
He said a number of impaired investigations and charges have occurred already this month. Between Dec. 15 and 19 alone there were five investigations, resulting in three charges of impaired driving and all five involved seizure of the vehicle for a minimum of three days because of the new legislation.
“Our focus during the month of December will be on impaired driving,” Hildebrandt said.
Damaged gate
An attempted break and enter left the fence of a company located near Innisfail damaged.
The attempt was reported to the RCMP on Dec. 18 at about 7 a.m.
