Too good to be true.
A Quadra Island resident recently found herself entangled in a fraudulent web involving purported discounted Taylor Swift concert tickets.
On August 16th, Quadra Island RCMP were told of the situation, which transpired through the popular social media platform, Facebook.
The complainant told police she recollected observing a link posted by her Facebook friend, offering what appeared to be substantially discounted Taylor Swift tickets.
Since she knew the friend personally, she believed the link was real. So she tagged her cousin in the post because she’s a big fan of Swift.
“Soon after, the complainant was advised that her cousin had sent the money but still hadn’t received the ticket,” said Quadra RCMP in a news release.
Subsequently, it came to light that the friend’s Facebook account had fallen victim to a hacker.
Following this discovery, the complainant reimbursed her cousin for the funds that had gone astray.
Following the incident, RCMP took the opportunity to remind the public to stay wary of online activity.
“Quadra RCMP are reminding the public to protect their online accounts from fraud and data breaches by creating a strong password, enabling multi-factor authentication, and to not reveal personal information over social media.”
They further caution individuals to exercise a high degree of skepticism when confronted with social media messages that appear unusual, incongruous, or soliciting funds—even if they seem to originate from familiar sources.
In the unfortunate event of falling prey to fraud, individuals are encouraged to promptly report such incidents to the Canadian Anti-Fraud at 1-888-495-8501.
