Online thieves are using fake social media accounts identical to those of some of our elected municipal government officials in a bid to defraud small business owners, police warn.

Detectives say the businesses are sent messages that they qualify for COVID-19 relief grants and when they reply the scammers try to steal their money.

Peel Regional Police say they have learned of several incidents recently in which members of the public believed the message on social media was sent to them by an elected government official notifying them that “they qualified for a COVID-19 relief grant specific to small businesses.”

“Those operating the fake accounts made requests for prepaid gift cards,” police said in a press release.

The scammers also ‘requested personal information along with a request for funds prior to relief funds being released.’

“In many fraud-related cases, people in vulnerable situations are coerced, manipulated and taken advantage of for the profit of the fraudster,” according to Peel police.

Officers are urging online users to do their research and verify the organization or person; don’t be afraid to say no; any requests for money should be treated with caution, avoid clicking on convenient links and source the service separate and apart for what is provided in an email or message.

Police warn never to prepay someone you have never met for services or products by way of Interac e-transfer or by prepaid gift cards.

And currency should never be sent via Bitcoin ABM at the direction of someone you do not know or trust, police said.

Community memberswho want to learn more about these scams and other trends can visit  the anti-fraud centre at https://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca or torontopolice.on.ca

Police say COVID-19 has resulted in more people working, attending school and looking for entertainment online. Cybercriminals were quick to capitalize on this and it has resulted in more than 6,000 complaints of ‘cyberfraud’ via e-mail, internet or social media platforms in Ontario to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

The complaints left behind more than 3,659 victims sustaining combined losses of $17.84-million.

Phishing, which is an email or text message that appears to be from a legitimate person or organization but contains malicious links or attachments – accounts for 80 per cent of all reported cyber security incidents, police say,