Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 21 Jun, 2023 10:14 AM
Mounties in Metro Vancouver have issued a warning about what they describe as a sophisticated new "grandparent scam."
Richmond -R-C-M-P say the scam -- in which fraudsters try to convince seniors that a loved one is in trouble and needs money -- has been around for years.
But recently they say scammers have started using artificial intelligence and digital manipulation to alter the voice in the phone call in order to sound more authentic.
The Mounties are urging people never to provide their personal, banking or credit card information over the phone.
The biggest change, to take effect in the spring, will allow U.S. border agents to interview Nexus applicants at select Canadian airports before boarding a U.S.-bound flight. That will happen only after applicants take part in a separate, appointment-only interview with Canadian agents at a Nexus airport enrolment centre.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino directed Commissioner Brenda Lucki to bar Mounties from using the method in a mandate letter last year. The fact that he also asked RCMP to stop using two other tools — tear gas and rubber bullets — has received less public attention.
In addition to the reflections found in a technical survey, she said interviews with survivors and searches through archival records revealed that babies born as a result of child sexual assault at the mission were disposed of by incineration. Spearing said their work found "a minimum" of 28 children died at the mission, many of them buried in unmarked graves around the site.
Richard Gauthier was on trial on three charges in connection with crimes he committed in the 1980s involving a teenage male skater whom he trained. Gauthier, 61, was found guilty on two charges, in a ruling rendered in Montreal by Quebec court Judge Josée Bélanger. He was acquitted of a third count of indecent assault against the victim, whose identity is covered by a publication ban.
Police say drivers on the Alex Fraser Bridge outside Vancouver honked and yelled at a man in a mental health crisis standing outside the safety rail, with some encouraging him to "take action." According to a police statement, some drivers walked up the bridge deck, interfered with the negotiations, and videoed or photographed the man.
The partnership to protect the Incomappleux Valley east of Revelstoke, B.C., involves Interfor Corp. giving up 75,000 hectares of its forest tenure. The Nature Conservancy says it a statement that several species at risk are found the valley, including two endangered bats and the threatened southern mountain caribou.
