There’s concern that the number of criminal incidents involving fraud is on the rise in Belleville and elsewhere.
At Tuesday’s Police Services Board meeting, member James O’Brien asked whether more could be done to educate residents and especially more vulnerable senior citizens about how to avoid losing significant amounts of money to fraudsters.
There were 96 fraud investigations in Belleville in the second quarter of this year, up from 76 incidents in the same period last year.
Chief Mike Callaghan says he’s hoping the hiring of several more police officers will allow the service to be more proactive in providing more information to the public about avoiding fraud, adding that many of the incidents involve large international criminal organizations.
