(MUNICIPALITY OF NORTH PERTH, ON) – On Sunday March 29, 2015, a Municipality of North Perth resident attended at the North Perth Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Detachment in Listowel to report a fraud.
The resident explained that a text message was received from an unknown person who stated that she had won a lottery prize of $950,000. The resident was instructed to send $635. by means of a Western Union money transfer office to an address in Missouri, USA so that the claim could be processed. The resident who had not played lotteries lately thought it was a random draw. Upon sending the money the resident received additional text messages advising her to send more money. At this point she realized she had been scammed. (The phone number from which the text message originated was found to be no longer in service).
The Perth County OPP wants to warn residents about unsolicited letters, emails and phone calls. Unsolicited means that you didn’t ask for it. You should not have to pay to receive a financial prize.