Close X
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
ADVT 
National

Low-income renters got a benefit. Scammers took one day to target it, BC Housing says

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 12 Apr, 2024 09:46 AM
  • Low-income renters got a benefit. Scammers took one day to target it, BC Housing says

BC Housing is warning of scammers targeting recipients of a support scheme for elderly low-income renters, just one day after it was announced.

The housing agency says in a "fraud alert" on its website and social media that it will never use text messages to invite recipients to claim benefits.

It comes after the province announced on Tuesday that it was granting a $430 benefit to the roughly 20,000 seniors in the Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters program, also known as SAFER.

BC Housing issued the fraud warning on Wednesday, saying recipients would receive the one-time benefit with their regular payments this month.

It says no action is required from recipients to get the money.

The changes to the SAFER program also expanded eligibility for its monthly benefits to seniors with annual incomes up to $37,240, compared to the previous $33,000 limit.

MORE National ARTICLES

B.C. plans law allowing police to arrest or ticket over school disruptions

B.C. plans law allowing police to arrest or ticket over school disruptions
Premier David Eby says there has been at least 18 such protests at schools, and the law would stop people from blocking access, attempting to intimidate another person or disrupting school activities, such as banging on classroom windows.   

B.C. plans law allowing police to arrest or ticket over school disruptions

Drinking in public plazas for Vancouver

Drinking in public plazas for Vancouver
Vancouver's city council is extending a program that allows people to drink alcohol in certain plazas until May 2025.  The city says the program has gone ahead successfully for four years. 

Drinking in public plazas for Vancouver

1 dead in Victoria stabbing

1 dead in Victoria stabbing
Police in Victoria are looking for witnesses to come forward after a man was fatally stabbed. Officers were called to the scene shortly before midnight last night and found the man suffering from stab wounds.  

1 dead in Victoria stabbing

B.C. doesn't know where all its groundwater is going. Experts worry as drought looms

B.C. doesn't know where all its groundwater is going. Experts worry as drought looms
Growing up on a ranch in the Columbia River Valley, water has always been part of Kat Hartwig's life, and over the years, she's noticed changes. Marshy areas her family used for irrigation or watering cattle are dry, wetlands are becoming "crunchy" rather than spongy underfoot, and snowmelt is disappearing more quickly each spring, ushering in the dry summer months, Hartwig says.

B.C. doesn't know where all its groundwater is going. Experts worry as drought looms

Health minister compares dentists' 'fears' on dental-care program to medicare rollout

Health minister compares dentists' 'fears' on dental-care program to medicare rollout
Health Minister Mark Holland says "concerns and fears" dentists are expressing about a national dental-care plan are similar to those doctors had when Canada launched medicare in the 1960s. He is defending his government's back-and-forth negotiations with dentists after dental associations said some of their members are hesitant to participate.

Health minister compares dentists' 'fears' on dental-care program to medicare rollout

Canada's spy agency saw low-level Chinese meddling activities in 2019 election: Gould

Canada's spy agency saw low-level Chinese meddling activities in 2019 election: Gould
The former minister of democratic institutions says she was told after the October 2019 federal election that Canada's spy agency had seen low-level foreign interference activities by China. Karina Gould, who held the portfolio from early 2017 to November 2019, said in a classified interview last month that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service indicated the activities were similar to what had been seen in the past.

Canada's spy agency saw low-level Chinese meddling activities in 2019 election: Gould