As British Columbians gear up for Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals, and a busy holiday shopping season ahead, E-Comm and our policing partners are reminding the public to remain vigilant for those attempting to prey on unsuspecting shoppers – whether at the mall, via phone call or online.
As part of an ongoing education campaign, the public is encouraged to learn about how to “Make the Right Call” – and utilize the proper resources to report scams and frauds through either the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre or their local non-emergency police number.
“Make the Right Call” to report scams & frauds
- To report a scam where money has been lost, call your local police non-emergency line or file a report online. Find your local number or online reporting tool at nonemergency.ca
- To report a scam where no money has been lost, contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 or visit antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/
- Any crime in progress or threat to your personal safety, such as an extortion attempt or theft, please call 9-1-1
“Ensuring less urgent crimes are properly reported through the correct channels means that our police partners have a more accurate picture of crime trends and new scams that emerge,” explains Kelly Furey, Communications Specialist with E-Comm 9-1-1. “By making the right call to non-emergency or the Anti-Fraud Centre, you are helping to keep 9-1-1 for its intended use – as the lifeline for those who need immediate, emergency help from first responders.”
Reporting crime matters
Reporting all crimes, including scams and fraud, is important and makes communities safer by helping to identify trends and inform proactive police resources and patrols.
As part of the “Make the Right Call” campaign, E-Comm is emphasizing the importance of using your local 10-digit non-emergency police number unique to your community to report crimes with a time delay, or situations that don’t require immediate help.
Key improvements to non-emergency call-taking services for E-Comm’s Lower Mainland police agency partners mean the public can report less urgent crimes such as frauds faster, with the addition of a dedicated non-emergency team and technology enhancements that give callers estimated wait times, call-back options and SMS texting of their police file number. Curious about the best time to call? It’s during the hours of 7 am to 9 pm, when our dedicated non-emergency team are on shift.
With these enhancements, the average call answer time has decreased to less than 2 minutes on average (year to date 2024) compared to over 4 minutes the previous year, for those Lower Mainland police agencies that use E-Comm to answer non-emergency calls on their behalf. This means more callers can get through to report their non-urgent crime in a timely way. These improvements are part of a multi-year Transformation Plan to modernize E-Comm’s service delivery.
Learn more about non-emergency services and how to “Make the Right Call” for fraud, scams and all other crimes that don’t require immediate help at nonemergency.ca.
-30-
About E-Comm
E-Comm is the first point of contact for 9-1-1 callers in 25 regional districts in British Columbia and provides dispatch services for more than 70 police agencies and fire departments across the province. E‐Comm also owns and operates the largest multi‐jurisdictional, tri‐service, wide‐area radio network in the province used by police, fire and ambulance personnel throughout Metro Vancouver and parts of the Fraser Valley.
Media contact
E-Comm
604-215-6248
[email protected]