B.C. animal charity warns others after being victimized by sophisticated scam
The Regional Animal Protection Society said it received a message that they were getting a large donation of $95,000 from someone's estate.
They said they received a letter that looked like it was from a lawyer, which included a cheque.
The society said it started spending the money on some much-needed renovations but that's when the lawyer contacted them again to say the donation should have only been $25,000 and the lawyer asked for $70,000 back.
Luckily, before they sent any money back, their bank contacted them.
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'Lucky for us on the same day the bank called me and said, 'That cheque that you put in the bank for $95,000 was fraudulent,' and so we were able to put the brakes on any other action we would have taken, but of course we are already commenced with our infrastructure project so now we're in a situation where we're going to be in a cashflow crunch if we don't find another way to fund that project,' Catherine Ellsmere with the Regional Animal Protection Society said.
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The $25,000 had to come out of the charity's operating budget.
Cybersecurity experts warn that the best defence to avoid falling victim to phishing scams is to pause and authenticate the information.
'The lesson here is to slow down. Verify the information in a third way,' said Jane Arnett from Check Point.
'Be not trusting, in general, when people are reaching out to you.'
— with files from Anne Drewa
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