The St. Thomas Police are issuing a scam reminder after a local resident recently fell victim to a “Grant Scam.” The grant scam occurs when potential victims receive the same text from a robot dialer created by the scammer. The text can even be made to look like it’s coming from someone already in your contact list. The text tells the person they can receive a grant from the Federal Grant, World Bank or other major organization promising a $100,000 grant.
The message usually tells the victim that if they send them $2,500 you will be told additional information on the grant. This is followed up by phone calls which sound legitimate requesting additional payments and still promising the full amount to the victim, only the money will never come.
The St. Thomas Police are reminding residents to be wary of these types of messages and if a message like this sounds too good to be true, it is. They encourage you to report these attempted scams to the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre as they assist the police in their investigations. The police request that you only contact them if you actually suffer a financial loss. They ask that you do report potential scams to the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre.
