Merchants warned of possible point of sale scam

KAMLOOPS – The Kamloops Business Improvement Association is reminding businesses to be vigilant after multiple complaints were made about a possible retail scam.

The Association's general manager Gay Pooler says the RCMP received complaints from businesses in the downtown, North Kamloops and Aberdeen regions about people claiming to be point of sale merchants and asking to look at the systems.

"The guy offered to come in and change their machine out," Pooler says. "The radar went off right away."

Pooler followed up with Moneris, RBC's merchant processing services division, and was told salespeople have been in the area as of late. However, businesses complained because these people weren't producing identification which raised suspicions about their authenticity to businesses and Pooler.

"They should be producing identification, and also, they would have all the sales material on them," Pooler said.

RCMP are investigating the complaints, but Pooler said it's a good practice regardless.

"It's always good to be vigilant," she said. "Better to have a false alarm than the other way around."

Report any scams or fraud to local RCMP by calling 250-828-3000.

To contact a reporter for this story, email: jwallace@infotelnews.ca, call: (250) 319-7494 or tweet: @jess__wallace.