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The Citizen, 2019-08-15, Page 12PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2019. A Visitor’s Guide to Huron County Summer 2019 FREE Rediscover what Huron County has to offer. Pick up your free guide to Stops Along The Way and see what’s happening in your area! Available at many local tourist spots throughout Huron County or pick it up at The Citizen 405 Queen St., Blyth ~ 519-523-4792 Continued from page 8 Get-well wishes go out to Joe Steffler, who has had a knee replacement. We hope he comes along well. It is official, the Walton Inn has been sold and Graeme and Helen Craig are retiring. We wish them well. The new owner from Waterloo takes over on Saturday, Aug. 24. Celebrating birthdays the last week of July were: Liz Ross, Tyler Eckert, Donna Blair, Cathy Flaxbard, Tyler Leslie Ribey, Olene Dennis, Sandra Huether, Paul Ryan, Jordan Shortreed, Bridget Blake Williams, Jeanne Dionne and Jennifer Grobbink. August starts with Lily Grobbink, Jacob Roth, Sarah Strome, Cory Coleman, Susan Alexander, Sherry Hoegy Delay, Rick Schmeltzer, Courtney Price, Heidi McClure, Kristen Grobbink, Curtis McCallum, Luke McCallum, Bruce Godkin, Angela Huether, Kenneth Huether, Adrienne Wakabayashi, Erin Mitchell, Marie Mitchell, Laurie Grobbink, Darryl Houston, Lisa Huether, Heidi Bachert, Greg Humphries, Brian McGavin, Tina McClure, Katie Williamson Janmaat, Wendy Bachert, Taylar McKee, Chris Bernard, Craig Sullivan, Alicia McDonald and Floyd Nesbitt. Craigs sell Walton Inn Eight-year-old chased by masked men in Wingham Huron County Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers are seeking information from the public to help unravel an occurrence that took place in Wingham on Aug. 1. Shortly before 4 p.m. that day, Huron OPP officers received information about an occurrence that took place around 2:30 p.m. on Shuter Street in Wingham. Investigators have learned a group of five children, ranging in age from seven to 14, went for a walk around the Shuter Street block. During this walk, an eight-year-old boy started lagging behind the rest of the group. It was at this point, a white, cargo- style van pulled up beside the child and two passengers got out of the van and immediately started chasing after him a short distance. The child took off running and was able to get away to a place of safety and ultimately met up with the other children. The van was last seen travelling northbound on Shuter Street where it turned left and headed westbound on Charles Street towards Josephine Street. The suspect vehicle is described as a white, cargo-style van with a sliding passenger door and two barn style rear doors. The suspects are described as follows: • A male passenger wearing a balaclava, black pants and a black shirt. • A male passenger with grayish hair and dressed in black. • A male driver, possibly in his 30s, with facial hair and wearing a black hat. Investigators would like to speak with any witnesses to help identify these suspects. CH VICTIM SCAMMED A scammer has defrauded a Central Huron resident of $8,000 after the victim fell for a deceptive Google Play gift card scam. It all started when the victim received a call from someone pretending to work for her bank. She was informed by this supposed bank employee that her bank account had been hacked and $600 had been stolen from her account and wired to India. The scammer then pretended to transfer her call to the fraud department. The victim was then informed the bank would contact the wire transfer service on her behalf and would try to get her money back for her. She received a return call later in the day to advise her the bank was successful in getting her money back plus an extra thousand dollars. The victim was then instructed she had to repay the wire transfer service company by purchasing Google Play cards. The victim ultimately complied with the scammer’s requests and purchased a total of $8,000 worth of Google Play gift cards. The scammer led the victim to believe the bank had provided her money to make these purchases. The scammer gained access to her bank account and funds were shifted from her line of credit into her chequing account. Thinking money had been transferred into her account the victim went along with the scam. Once the authorization codes were supplied from the gift cards the scam was now complete. The scammer called back a few days later requesting the victim purchase an additional $6,000 worth of cards, however this time the victim declined and reported the matter to her bank. Gift card scams are very popular because they continue to work. Here are some things you should know. Scammers will use different ways to trick people into providing them with the authorization codes. They may ask for the gift cards in exchange to pay taxes, bail money, debt collection or for physical items. Remember, you can only use Google Play gift cards to make purchases like apps and music on Google Play. The OPP offer these tips to protect yourself from gift card scams. • Never use Google Play gift cards to pay for anything outside of Google Play • Never share the code on the back of the gift card. Once you provide the code, the scammer can start making purchases. It will likely be spent before you contact Google, your bank or the police. The best thing to do if you receive an unsolicited call is to hang up the phone. If you have any doubt at all, call a trusted family member, your bank directly or the police and ask them about it. Don’t become a statistic. Fraud is a multi-billion dollar enterprise that will only stop when the scammers stop getting money, banking information or personal information. For more information on fraud, call the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 or www.antifraudcentre.ca. 36-year-old Londoner drowns in Bluewater At approximately 11 a.m., on Aug. 4, members of the Huron County Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), and Huron Emergency Medical Services (EMS) responded to an address on Bluewater Highway in the Municipality of Bluewater following reports of a possible drowning in Lake Huron. The body of 36-year-old Joyce Thomas of London was discovered and pulled to shore. She was pronounced deceased at the scene by emergency responders. A post-mortem examination was scheduled for Aug. 5. If you have information about this or any incident, please contact Huron County OPP at 1-888-310- 1122. Should you wish to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or submit a secure web-tip at http://hc-cs.ca/, where you may be eligible to receive a cash reward of up to $2,000. The Citizen wants you to stay connected wherever you are in the world with an Electronic Subscription • Easy access • Read on your phone, tablet or computer • Perfect for travellers, students or snowbirds • Timely reading (no waiting for mail delivery) $3800 per year Go to our website and pay by Pay Pal or come into the office and pay by cheque, cash, credit card or debit The Citizen www.northhuron.on.ca 405 Queen St., Blyth 519-523-4792 541 Turnberry St., Brussels 519-887-9114 Sweet new paint Ariel, left, and Estee Cousteils took a break from the fun at the Clinton Children’s Festival over the weekend to show off their beautiful butterfly face paint. (Hannah Dickie photo)