National

Low-income renters got a benefit. Scammers took one day to target it, BC Housing says

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 12 Apr, 2024 09:46 AM

BC Housing is warning of scammers targeting recipients of a support scheme for elderly low-income renters, just one day after it was announced.

The housing agency says in a "fraud alert" on its website and social media that it will never use text messages to invite recipients to claim benefits.

It comes after the province announced on Tuesday that it was granting a $430 benefit to the roughly 20,000 seniors in the Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters program, also known as SAFER.

BC Housing issued the fraud warning on Wednesday, saying recipients would receive the one-time benefit with their regular payments this month.

It says no action is required from recipients to get the money.

The changes to the SAFER program also expanded eligibility for its monthly benefits to seniors with annual incomes up to $37,240, compared to the previous $33,000 limit.

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

Theft involving 14 deer antlers

Police in Fort St. John, B.C., are on the lookout after a number of hunting trophies were stolen, including 14 sets of deer antlers. Mounties say the break-in was reported at an abandoned property on Feb. 9 and the rear door had been kicked in.

Theft involving 14 deer antlers

Safety board says broken wheel caused 61-car CN Rail derailment in B.C.

The Transportation Safety Board says a broken wheel set off a train derailment in B.C.'s Fraser Canyon, spilling six million kilograms of potash. In September 2020, 61 cars on a Canadian National Railway freight train left the tracks just south of Hope, B.C.

Safety board says broken wheel caused 61-car CN Rail derailment in B.C.

Ottawa will shut down shady post-secondary institutions if provinces don't: Miller

Immigration Minister Marc Miller says Ottawa is ready to step in and shut down shady schools that are abusing the international student program if provinces don't crack down on them. Miller says there are problems across the college sector, but some of the worst offenders are private institutions — and those schools need to go.

Ottawa will shut down shady post-secondary institutions if provinces don't: Miller

Snowfall warning for parts of Lower Mainland could mean sloppy Vancouver commute

Environment Canada has issued a snowfall warning for parts of B.C.'s Lower Mainland, with a wintry mix heralding a sloppy evening commute for Metro Vancouver. The warning also covers the Fraser Valley and the Sea to Sky Highway, with up to 25 centimetres expected in Whistler.

Snowfall warning for parts of Lower Mainland could mean sloppy Vancouver commute

Some bundled wireless plans not as cheap as before Rogers-Shaw merger: watchdog

Certain cellphone plans in Western Canada are not as cheap as they were prior to the Rogers-Shaw merger, Canada's competition watchdog says. Jeanne Pratt, the Competition Bureau's senior deputy commissioner of mergers and monopolistic practices, told MPs on Monday that before Shaw was purchased by Rogers Communications last April, the company was "a particularly growing and disruptive competitive force" in B.C. and Alberta.

Some bundled wireless plans not as cheap as before Rogers-Shaw merger: watchdog

Online harms: Liberals seek to create digital safety commission, new ombudsperson

The Liberal government plans to create a new digital safety regulator to compel social-media platforms to take action against online harms and remove damaging content — including child sex-abuse material and intimate images shared without consent — under penalty of millions of dollars in fines. Justice Minister Arif Virani tabled the long-awaited Online Harms Act on Monday, along with a suite of other amendments to the Criminal Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act.