Mon, 2017-03-13

The Bermuda Police Service would like to remind members of the public to remain vigilant regarding online fraud, in light of a report involving a local resident defrauded by a social media scam.

In the recent reported instance, a local male Facebook user received the following messages from a newly added Facebook friend:

'Are you interested in receiving $700,000.00 Sir' and 'Sir you have been chosen among the Facebook promo 2017 winners to get a cash prize of $700,000,00 each.'

Apparently believing he was a winner, the local man sent his personal details and a smaller amount of cash via money transfer to claim his alleged cash prize.

However when re-contacted to send additional funds to ensure the mentioned prize money was released, the local man became suspicious and reported the matter.

Once again, residents are advised not to respond to unsolicited correspondence (via e-mail, fax, letter or telephone call) which claims to offer an amazing prize or cash reward – if only the ‘lucky winner’ is willing to send an amount of money in advance to ‘secure the winnings’ or other ‘promising opportunity’ – and individuals should be extremely cautious when asked to send funds to persons who have contacted them unexpectedly, especially via the internet.

If a person or entity insists that funds are transferred by means other than the banking system, additional scrutiny of the transaction is advisable.

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