‘Incredibly disheartening’: Calgary Humane Society among animal rescues targeted by scam

Two local non-profit animal organizations are warning others about a scam they almost fell victim to, which involved fake cheques and emotional manipulation.

The Calgary Humane Society and Alice Sanctuary say they’ve both been the targets of an overpayment scam recently.

The humane society takes in thousands of animals a year, and that comes at a cost.

“At Calgary Humane Society, we don’t receive any government funding. We rely on the generosity of the public, from private donors and from our corporate sponsors,” said Anna-Lee Fitzsimmons with the humane society.

The rescues received cheques for $95,000, which would have made a huge difference.

The cheques came with letters from a lawyer, claiming the money was gifted from a donor’s estate.

But there was a hitch.

They were also asked to send back a certain, lesser amount to cover the cost of an injured dog but could keep the rest.

“It was quite manipulative when you think about it, using their partners and the loss, the grief. Then Lizzie, their dog, who was also in urgent medical care. That’s what they needed the $70,000 for and then $25,000 was to be donated to us at the sanctuary,” said Janneane Madill with Alice Sanctuary.

In an overpayment scam, the fraudsters hope you deposit the cheque and transfer your money to them before the bank’s hold period ends and they confirm the cheque bounced.

Luckily, neither group submitted their cheque when red flags began to pop up.

“It’s incredibly disheartening, incredibly selfish. You know, animals in Calgary need this help. So, yeah, very disappointing and quite surprising as well. We’ve never seen anything like this come through,” said Fitzsimmons.

Data from the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre shows Canadians lost almost $640 million to fraud last year.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) estimates that stat is higher because only five per cent of fraud gets reported to police.

In this situation, the BBB suggests fact-checking.

“You need to verify the information. Who are they? Their identity, address, phone number, email, their bank and so on. You can verify and validate a lot of information. The other thing is don’t take the cheque and start spending the money,” said Wes Lafortune with the BBB.

You can head to the BBB’s Scam Tracker online to learn what types of scams are out there, so you don’t become a victim.