CRA Ontario fights fraud

Oct. 18, 2012 – The Canadian Rental Association Ontario helped members
to avoid identity theft and counterfeit cash with talks from RCMP
corporal Tim Laurence and Bank of Canada currency educator Manuel
Parreira at its October meeting in Newmarket hosted by Norseman. Guests
at the buffet dinner were also entertained by James Morden's hosting of
"Who Wants to be a CRA Ontario Millionaire," featuring skill-testing
questions about next year's Ontario Tabletop in Alliston, Ont.

Diane Gouge of LM Temperature Control, is that your final answer?

After the buffet dinner, members heard about the CRA's upcoming participation in the Canadian International Home Show in Toronto, Nov. 1 to 4. Members who work the booth for two hours will be able to bring rate sheets and other promotional material on their shops for presentation on the booth. Bryan Baeumler will be making a 45-minute presentation at the show on the benefits of renting for home projects.

Then it was time for "Who Wants to be a CRA Ontario Millionaire," with lucky contestants winning $5,000 Rental Bucks to be spent at the Ontario Tabletop, Jan. 19 at the Nottawasaga Inn in Alliston, Ont. The questions were easy and everyone won, but were somewhat disappointed to learn a Rental Buck is otherwise known as a penny.

Corporal Tim Laurence says always protect your PIN.

Laurence then introduced members to such terms as phishing, spoofing and skimming in his talk on identity theft and how to avoid it. Laurence says one in five Canadians are victims of identity theft and it costs the economy over $2 billion per year. He warned about a number of common scams and gave tips for how to avoid them. Rental operators should be alert for a scam where a thief swaps a store's card reader with an identical device that broadcasts customers' card information to a nearby mobile device.

Next, Parreira gave members a sneak peek at the new polymer $20 bill being released into circulation Nov. 7. As members passed the bill around (it did make it back to Parreira) he delivered the message that counterfeiting can be easily prevented if merchants would make use of the many security features on Canadian bank notes. He urged rental operators to "tilt and feel" when they receive cash – tilt the bill to see the holograms on the reflective strip and feel for the raised texture on the printed images. These features cannot be copied by counterfeters and can be checked in seconds. 

Related links
www.crarental.com