Fraudsters ask for bank details in latest licence plate sticker refund phone scam

By CityNews Staff

In yet another iteration of the scams regularly plaguing the public, fraudsters are targeting Ontarians awaiting a refund for their licence plate stickers via phone calls.

The Ontario government announced the scrapping of annual renewal fees for individual owners of passenger vehicles, light-duty trucks, motorcycles and mopeds in February. Anyone who paid renewal fees starting March 2020 will be mailed a refund by cheque at the end of March or in April if they do not have any outstanding fines or tolls.

Less than a week after the announcement, police warned of a phishing scam via texts, that were sent as a “Service Ontario alert.”

More recently, as many have begun to receive their cheques, scammers have taken to the phone lines to swindle people out of likely more than just their refunds.

The scammers reportedly claim to be from Service Ontario and offer a direct deposit option to receive your licence plate sticker refund. They then ask you to supply your licence plate number and bank details in order to process the refund, to seemingly spare you the hassle of dealing with a cheque.

“The government is aware of a phone scam targeting Ontarians by offering fraudulent refunds for licence plate stickers and requesting banking information,” said Sebastian Skamski from the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services.  “Ontarians should not engage with these individuals as this is a scam.”

The Canadian Anti Fraud Centre (CAFC) says this is one of the newer versions of a familiar scam.

“This type of scam, what they’re looking for is your personal information — in this case bank account information, which you should never share,” said Jeff Horncastle, communications officer with the CAFC. “The government will never call you and ask you for that bank account information over the phone.”

Horncastle says scammers are quick to adapt their operations to the latest rebates being offered or other trends in the market.

“We’ve seen it in Quebec with the tax credit that they were offering — as soon as the word came out, we saw the phish text messages roll in,” he said. “If there’s a benefit being offered by the government — federal or provincial — know that there’s probably going to be a phishing text message or a fraudulent phone call following, trying to get your personal information.”

Horncastle says if you receive such a phone call, it is important to stay vigilant.

“In most cases, victims are aware of these types of scams, but things happen quickly. Do your due diligence, don’t act too quickly and trust your first instinct,” he said.

The simplest way to confirm whether the call is legitimate is to hang up and call the relevant agency or institution directly to check in with them.

Horncastle also warns not to trust the caller ID you see on your phone because scammers use “call spoofing.”

“Call spoofing gives the criminals the ability to make any phone number show up on your call display, including legitimate phone numbers,” he said. “There’s so much technology out there now that these criminals like to capitalize on any situation that they can.”

If you do give out personal information on such a call, you could be vulnerable to identity theft. Horncastle says be sure to report the incident to police and CAFC, your financial institutions, credit bureaus and all relevant government agencies so that your accounts and profiles can be flagged for any suspicious activity.

So far Toronto, Peel and Durham region police say they have not received reports of this particular scam yet as it seems to be fairly new.

Some who receive such calls might not fall for the scam and simply hang up, but Horncastle stresses the importance of reporting the call to the CAFC or police, so that others who may be more vulnerable can we warned.

“Even if you haven’t been a victim, you should report to the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre. It’s important for the CAFC to get that message out and to protect our citizens from being a victim to this type of scam,” he said. “Even if it’s just an attempt and you haven’t given personal information … it’s important to report it regardless.”

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