Scam grows
Better Business Bureau (BBB) of Vancouver Island is receiving an influx of customer calls about a recurring mass marketing anti-virus scam targeting the area, including Powell River.
According to the BBB, “unscrupulous, aggressive scammers” are fraudulently soliciting area residents by phone, offering anti-virus computer software. Marketers call individuals stating that the household computer is running slowly or has been infected with a virus. Using fear tactics and threats, the caller demands the consumer repair their computer immediately, over the Internet. This can involve the installation of software or the computer owner allowing the caller remote access to his or her personal computer. Payment for the software or repair service is handled via credit card.
The callers fraudulently claim to be representatives from companies such as Microsoft, Windows, Jars Support or Online PC Care, as well as numerous other companies. Credit card charges for the supposed software installation or repair service have ranged from $35 to $469 and are being debited by banks in Germany, Latvia, Russia, Ukraine, Mauritius, United States and Iceland.
“People should think twice when giving out any information, even if the name sounds legitimate,” said Rosalind Scott, executive director of BBB Vancouver Island. “Scammers often use familiar or well-established names in order to gain trust, which poses a real danger to the public.”
The agency offers the following tips: treat all unsolicited phone calls with skepticism; don’t provide any personal information; and never provide credit or debit card information for payment.
Consumers should report any fraudulent activity to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1.888.495.8501. More information about this scam, and others, can be found online.
Talks stall
British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) has left talks with the provincial government out of frustration over negotiations concerning legislation declared unconstitutional in a court ruling earlier this year.
BCTF officials say they have asked the government to halt any further talks until a court hearing scheduled for October 11. The hearing is a result of a BCTF request for clarification on an April 2011 Supreme Court ruling that declared legislation introduced in 2002, which removed the right for teachers to bargain class size and composition, unconstitutional.
Five meetings have taken place so far to discuss the Bill 27 and 28 court ruling, during which BCTF has asked the government to restore bargaining rights to teachers and return “illegally-stripped collective agreement provisions,” said Susan Lambert, BCTF president, in a press release. Those provisions dealt with class size limits, services for students with special needs and specialized teaching.
The government has proposed initial ideas for a “class organization fund” that would provide money to address class composition issues. BCTF is objecting to the idea, stating the model would “pit classes, schools and school districts against one another in a race for scarce resources,” said Lambert in the release. Details on the fund have not been released by government.
“Ultimately, it would create competition between vulnerable students for the very services they so urgently need to succeed at school,” she said. “It’s profoundly unfair.”
Talks over the legislation are separate from the contentious negotiations of a new contract which have resulted in BC teachers entering into the first phase of job action.
