Vancouver Island woman urges caution after being defrauded $95K

A Nanaimo woman is warning others to be careful of who you share your personal information with after she was defrauded of $95,000 six months ago. 

Jennifer Hiltz says she first learned of the fraud after Prefera Finance called her at work about an overdue payment on a $50,000 loan for two Sea-Doos. 

"I've never even been on a Sea-Doo. I didn't take out the loans. It's very out of character for me, too, if you look at my credit history," she said.

"They're not my loans. So I'm not going to pay them a penny."

She is only now regaining financial control, with some, but not all, of the loans being wiped from her TransUnion credit report. 

She says that the fraudster was someone she trusted and thought she knew. 

Hiltz says the person first approached her at the food cart she had been running for a few years. They bonded over the fact that they had both recently moved to Nanaimo and had kids the same age. 

Over the summer, she says the individual kept suggesting she sign up as a driver for Skip The Dishes to supplement her income. He told her he could refer her and offered to split the $50 referral reward.

When she ran into difficulties uploading her driver's licence to the business's online portal, Hiltz says her friend offered to scan it for her. 

That's all it took. 

Nanaimo RCMP spokesperson Gary O'Brien said it's, shockingly, that easy to become a victim of fraud. 

"They've got her picture. You can put it on a credit card or a fake ID.

"The fraudster went into a bank or some other lending institution. They got the money, and guess what? Boom. Line of credit in her name."

Since October, two loan companies, including Prefera, and a falsified merchant service bank account —  which enables a business to accept debit and credit cards and other contactless payments — have contacted her for loan repayments that total $95,000.