Serious collision forces road closure in Orillia
According to police, 3 people have been transferred to hospital with serious injuries.
The crash is currently under investigation and as a result the roadway is closed.
This is a developing situation and more information will be provided when it becomes available.
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CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Toronto police release images of suspect wanted in hate-motivated assault at downtown park
Images of a suspect wanted in connection with a hate-motivated assault in downtown Toronto. (Toronto Police Service) Toronto police have released images of a suspect accused of hurling homophobic slurs and assaulting one person at a downtown park last week. Police said a call came in around 4:20 p.m. on Aug. 1 in the area of Bayview Avenue and Front Street East. One person was speaking on the phone when an unknown man, unprovoked, allegedly began swearing at them and using homophobic slurs. Police said the man then asked the victim if they were recording him on their phone. During their interaction, the suspect allegedly tried to kick the victim, prompting them to run into a nearby business. The suspect followed but subsequently left when police were contacted. Investigators described the suspect as a 40-year-old Brown man, five-foot-10 with a lean build, grey stubble, a beard, and longer hair. He was last seen wearing a dark-coloured baseball hat. Police said the incident is being investigated as a hate-motivated offence. Anyone with information about the suspect's whereabouts is to contact police at 416-808-3500 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477).
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Costco customers shocked after someone drains all the funds from their gift cards
A number of Costco digital gift card customers are reporting that their cards have been mysteriously drained of all their money. The big-box retailer has offered few details about what happened, and some affected customers, like Shelly Xu of Perth, Ont., are still struggling to get a refund. Xu says, in late June, she discovered roughly $200 missing from her Costco gift card, called a Shop card. "[I] checked my balance and was shocked to find that there were zero dollars on there," she said. "I was very upset." Xu regularly uses Shop cards, because the big box retailer doesn't accept her Visa credit card. She says she has spent hours on the phone, and in-person at her local Costco store, trying to resolve the problem. But more than a month after her money disappeared, her case remains in limbo. "It's just unacceptable," said Xu. "They haven't provided any guidance whatsoever. The only information I've been able to dig up has been through online forums where other people have experienced the same issue." posted on social media, and on Costco's online shopping site from people who said the money on their Shop cards had vanished. CBC interviewed five affected customers from B.C. and Ontario. They said they discovered in June or July that between $150 and $1,000 had been drained from their digital Shop cards. They also said they found dealing with Costco frustrating, saying the retailer provided little to no information about what went wrong. Three reported Costco eventually provided a refund, one said she was denied, and Xu is still waiting for a resolution. "If it was $2.00, I probably would have let this go, but at $200, that's a good chunk of money that I'm not willing to give up on," said Xu. What went wrong? U.S.-based Costco Wholesale Corporation did not reply to repeated requests for comment. Consumer advocate and professor Daniel Tsai says he gives the retailer a failing grade for not going public with the Shop card issue. "Costco has a duty to the public as customers to ensure that they're aware of any compromise of their gift cards," said Tsai, a law and business professor at University Canada West in Vancouver. "From a business perspective, this is a real marketing fail because you're going to have customers lose trust in the brand," he said. "The proper thing for Costco to do right now is to admit there's a problem and not let this fester." It appears fraudsters may be responsible for the thefts. The three customers who got refunds shared with CBC News an identical letter Costco sent them, stating that its "ongoing investigation indicates that a limited number of digital Shop cards may have been used by unauthorized individuals." Costco also temporarily suspended online sales of digital Shop cards. According to customer complaints posted on the retailer's e-commerce site, the retailer halted sales of the cards around July 5 and resumed selling them near the end of the month. WATCH | Warnings about gift card scams: Warnings about gift card scams ahead of the holidays 3 years ago Scammers are finding new ways to deplete money from gift cards ahead of the holidays. Victims of these scams share their stories as cautionary tales. while experts offer tips for how to protect yourself from fraud. Refund denied Gift card fraud is big business in Canada. The Retail Council of Canada says that in 2021, Canadians reported $3.8 million dollars in losses due to the crime. Federal rules mandate Canadians be reimbursed in many cases of credit and debit card fraud. But when it comes to gift card scams, victims are often on their own to battle it out with the company that issued them. Cybersecurity and tech analyst Ritesh Kotak says that needs to change. "It is important that we create better mechanisms in place, more protection and also remedies to make people whole that have been victimized by these fraudsters." Lisa Mannella of Niagara Falls says, in early June, she discovered $150 missing from her two Shop cards. She says, in her case, Costco denied her a refund, citing Shop card terms and conditions, which state the retailer isn't responsible for stolen cards. "They are such a huge business and they make tons of money," said Mannella. "For a big company to not even care, or not even offer to help you, that's pretty sad." Mannella says Costco suggested scammers may have accessed her Shop card by hacking her email account, but she's not buying it. "They need to take responsibility," she said. "I suggested to [Costco], 'Well, maybe your account was hacked.' And they said, 'Well, that's never happened to us.'" The four other Costco customers interviewed also said the retailer had suggested their email may have been compromised. Costco also hinted at the issue in the letter it sent three of them, by including a reminder to keep their email accounts secure. One theory Kotak says it's possible scammers infiltrated Costco customers' email accounts. But he says that because a number of people were affected, it's also possible that scammers figured out the sequencing of the numbers on Shop cards' barcodes, and recreated ones that were already in circulation. "It's really simple to recreate barcodes. There is software available online," Kotak said. "You just have to put in the string of numbers, the type of barcode you're looking for and, with a click of a mouse, you're able to generate the barcode that you could use in stores." Shop card users told CBC News that, to buy goods in-store, the cashier only needs to scan a copy of the barcode; the card's secret four-digit PIN isn't required. The same rules apply for Walmart gift cards. Kotak says retailers likely forgo the PIN requirement in stores, because it makes the shopping experience more seamless. "Fraudsters are able to leverage this gap — this loophole — to be able to make fraudulent purchases," he said. Costco requires its customers to buy an annual membership but, according to its website, non-members can buy goods in-store using a Shop card. Kotak says that if it turns out the Shop card problem wasn't the fault of customers, the retailer should compensate all legitimate victims.
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
StubHub refunds 3 more people targeted by a scam on its platform
Peter Dickson left his Belleville, Ont., home on July 6 with hotel rooms booked and Blue Jays tickets in hand, thinking he was in for a nice weekend getaway. But instead of enjoying his pre-picked seats, he stood in 35 C with his pregnant wife, elderly parents and a couple of invalid StubHub bar codes. Dickson is one of three people who contacted CBC Toronto about StubHub's failure to help them after their accounts were hacked, following a story about a Blue Jays fan whose pricey tickets were sold from his account. All three say they received an initial email from the ticket reseller telling them no "fraudulent activity" took place. "This was supposed to be a good weekend away … it just turned into pretty much a nightmare," Dickson said. The scam targeting StubHub users goes like this: hackers take hold of the accounts and transfer or sell tickets to themselves for cheaper than they're worth. Then, they use the ticketholder scam account to resell them for their actual price or higher. Dickson purchased four StubHub tickets for a Blue Jays game back in May. In July, just one day before the game, he received an email saying his attempt to transfer the tickets was unsuccessful. "It was very bizarre. I'm tech savvy enough. I'm 33 years old," he said. "I logged on to my StubHub account as tickets were being bought and I was … panicking." 'We make it right,' StubHub says after CBC steps in Dickson locked his account and called StubHub. He says he was told his tickets were still there and assured there would be no issue. But there was — Dickson wasn't able to scan his tickets at the arena and the Blue Jays box office told him his tickets had, in fact, been transferred to a different StubHub account. After CBC Toronto reached out to StubHub about the incidents, the ticket reseller said it would be processing refunds for all three orders. "In the rare instance of an issue, we make it right," StubHub told CBC Toronto in an emailed statement July 30. They pointed to FanProtect Guarantee, StubHub's AI-powered risk screening and fraud prevention team. Two of the ordeals were mishandled by customer service agents, StubHub said. "We regret that this was the case; we are reviewing the details further to ensure we learn from this," the email says. A bucket list trip for father and son Cam Molinski flew from Vancouver in May with his 13-year-old son — a bucket list trip that involved watching a Blue Jays game behind home plate. Molinski realized his account had been hacked just three days before they flew out. He says he called StubHub within minutes of receiving an email saying his tickets had been transferred. "To me, that's something that needs to be dealt with immediately. They just put it off ... saying don't worry, it'll be no problem, we'll look into it," he said. Molinski logged into his account two days before he left, only to find his tickets were now being resold by another user. He phoned StubHub again. "They showed no initiative to want to rectify this situation or to take that posting down while they looked into it," he said Molinski bought backup tickets to make sure the trip wasn't ruined. He says it took him two months, five phone calls, several emails and a tip to CBC to finally receive a refund. Dispute claims and police reports Emily Sneddon was selling extra concert tickets to artists Sabrina Carpenter, The Weeknd and Morgan Wallen in Toronto. She got excited when she started receiving emails saying her tickets were selling. That enthusiasm faded when she saw three and five dollar receipts for tickets she had originally listed for $900. Sneddon says the hackers then tried to resell her tickets. "I was talking to customer support while this was happening and I was begging him to cancel any sale, lock down the account. He told me there was nothing he could do," she said. Sneddon has since filed a dispute claim with her credit card company and a police report. She says the entire situation is frustrating, particularly as she was hoping to put funds from the sales towards her wedding. StubHub has a choice to make, prof says It wouldn't make sense to refund every customer this happens to, says Dave Valliere, a business strategy professor at Toronto Metropolitan University. "When you start setting a precedent for some customers, eventually that becomes the norm for all customers," he said. "Things like this can escalate or become large expenses for a company." Platforms like StubHub could turn to something like two-factor authentication, Valliere says, though that's expensive, requires sophisticated IT and would put the onus on the company. "They're not obligated to," he said. "That norm in the business world is kind of fluid these days." Ultimately, Valliere says StubHub has a choice to make: refund customers affected by the scam or invest in better technology. "They've got to size up which of those two numbers is smaller," he said. Dickson, Molinski and Sneddon are set to be refunded by StubHub. But Molinski says the refund and coupon he was offered doesn't change his view on the ticket reseller. "I will never use StubHub again," he said.
