Niagara Regional Police warning of a new online scam.
This one involves photographers or people looking to work with photographers.
The victims post their services online through social media or on job search websites, they're then contacted by a scammer through email and information is exchanged.
The scammer "hires" the victim and sends a fraudulent cheque through the mail or by other means.
The victim deposits the cheque which exceeds the required payment.
The victim is then tricked into to transferring the "excess" funds to an unknown third party.
After the fact, the victim is advised by their bank that the cheque was fraudulent and the victim is now out the money.
A common theme with online frauds, are that the scammer is "out of town/country", they cannot meet in person, or for some reason can't handle the transactions themselves.
Police urge the public to be cautious of such online scams and exercise due diligence in verifying information before sending money.