Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion
There is a wide range of scams out there, and the Kindersley & District Co-operative Ltd. is warning its customers about a new scam involving pharmacies.
The Kindersley Co-op issued a notice last week stating that the organization had been made aware of a scam phone call being made to pharmacy customers.
The caller claims to be phoning from a local pharmacy, and the caller is asking for debit card and credit card information.
According to the notice, the caller is asking customers for the information to pay for discounted prescription drugs. The Kindersley Co-op will never ask its customers for their debit card or credit card information over the phone, the notice explains.
Rod MacDiarmid, general manager of the Kindersley & District Co-op, said the phone scam was brought to his attention about a week ago, and the organization made all of its departments aware of the scam as soon as it became known.
He noted that the pharmacy manager made him aware of the phone scam. The pharmacy manager told him that other Co-op pharmacies have reported similar incidents, but he said the callers could be targeting all pharmacies. They could be preying on the idea that everyone deals with a pharmacy somewhere, he said.
There is no evidence of a breach of information that would suggest the information of Co-op Pharmacy customers has been hijacked, MacDiarmid said. If any Co-op Pharmacy customers get a scam phone call, he said they could contact the administration office at 306-463-2624.
“If we have anybody calling us saying that they have received a phone call, then our next step would obviously be to contact the RCMP,” he said, recognizing that it is fraud and people should not give out their information over the phone.
MacDiarmid said the callers are claiming to be pharmacy employees, and he believes the scam artists will target seniors. The elderly citizens often use multiple prescription drugs, so they could be more prone to a scam involving pharmacies.
The hope is word gets around about the scam, the general manager said. According to MacDiarmid, one local Co-op Pharmacy customer has received the call and Co-op officials advised the person to contact the RCMP. He mentioned that the callers are not likely targeting Co-op pharmacies.
The victim told Co-op officials that the caller referred to the pharmacy as the “Kindersley” pharmacy, so it could be any pharmacy in Kindersley, he said. The Co-op has a pharmacy, so the scam is a concern, MacDiarmid added.
