Police warn of work from home scam leaving people with "substantial debt"
The Toronto Police Service has issued a public safety alert over an ongoing work from home scam.
According to police, a suspect posts an online job to an employment website and asks applicants to either accept money by e-transfer or to deposit a cheque.
Applicants are then told to withdraw money from their own account and deposit it into a Bitcoin machine.
However, the cheques are not honoured by the bank, and the applicant is subsequently left with a “substantial debt,” police warn.
As well, the e-transfer is later discovered to have been “obtained by fraud.”
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“The Toronto Police Service is reminding the public that accepting money derived from fraud is a crime and is subject to prosecution under the Criminal Code,” police said.
“It is best practice to thoroughly research any prospective employers and cast doubt on any activity that requires you to deal with quantities of money or cryptocurrency in a work from home setting.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Constable Elliott Lee at 416-808-5179 or [email protected].
Anonymous tips can be made to Crime Stoppers via 416-222-8477.
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