Rota-Teller   Wednesday March 23, 2016
 
Guest Speaker: RCMP Sergeant John Mecher
 
Attendance: 16 including guest speaker (no other guests).
President Gerd opened the meeting
Anthem: Barry
Grace: Carolyn
Toast to the Queen, Canada and Rotary – President Gerd
Guests: Speaker RCMP Sergeant John Mecher
Announcements:
  • Dhanni announced their will be an International Group meeting at the Baton Rouge immediately after the meeting.
  • Arthur announced that we would be doing a ‘park clean up’ on Saturday April 23rd from 10.00am to noon at Milliken Park (McCowan and Steeles). We will be piggy backing with the City (thanks to James Burchell). In order to show that we are from Rotary, ball caps will be ordered. Arthur will be sending further details.
  • David Seemungal announced that in order for us to get the Presidential Citation we need to give $3,000 to the foundation by the end of March, not the end of the Rotary year as we have in the past. He also advised that he had bequest forms for anyone wishing to leave $10,000 in their will to the Rotary foundation. This would also help with the Presidential Citation.
  • Gerd announced that he just got advised that in fact we had met all the requirements to get the Presidential Citation. He also advised that on Monday April 4th at 7.00am there will be a ‘post federal budget breakfast’ at the Jaycee Banquet Hall.    
Marbelous Draw: Maddy conducted the draw and our guest speaker John drew the ticket which was claimed by Carolyn, but she couldn’t find the mutant marble so was given $5 as a consolation.
Sergeant-At-Arms Maddy didn’t fine anyone, but just asked for Happy Bucks (there were lots of them): Gordon donated stating the he and Sue had spent March Break in Myrtle Beach where the weather had been 80 degrees a lot of the time. Barry donated stating that he had a nice time in Ottawa even though the weather wasn’t quite as good as Myrtle Beach! Carolyn gave back the $5 she won because she and Art had a good time in Hawaii. Arthur told us he was looking forward to visiting the aquarium in Atlanta in April. David Seemungal had a sad buck as it was the anniversary of his sister’s death. Dhanni said she was very happy that Lent is almost over so that she can go back to having desserts and alcohol and that she had committed to doing forty hours of yoga and only had one hour left to do. Emmanuel had a sad buck as his mother had just passed away. Jim Boyko was happy that his granddaughters had stayed with him and they all went to see a kids’ movie ‘Utopia’ which he highly recommended. Frank donated as he had arrived late. Gerd was happy as he and Dorothy had hiked the part of The Bruce Trail on the weekend and happened upon a village by the name of ‘Cassel’ which has the same name as his hometown in Germany. Maddy was happy she had just returned from RI headquarters in Evanston.        
Our speaker today was RCMP Sergeant John Mecher. He was introduced by Dhanni. She had received one of the CRA fraudulent calls and later saw a segment on CTV news about this and took a note of John’s email and invited him to come and talk to us. He talked to us about Mass Marketing Fraud Scams. The difference between fraud and theft is that with theft, it is immediate, where with fraud it is often meant to make you feel good (that you are getting ‘a good deal’) and the fraud might take a while to be recognized. Apparently fraudsters use social media a lot to aid them in scamming people. There are basically seven types of scams – Lottery Scams, Investment Scams, Grandparent Scams, Inheritance Scams, Hitman Scams, Romance Scams and CRA / Immigration Scams. In 2014 the losses in Canada due to fraud were over $75million and it is estimated only 5% were reported! John has made his PowerPoint presentation available to us as a pdf – the link is below so please ‘take a look’ and listen to the audio when you have time.
 
Arthur thanked John for his presentation and presented him with a certificate from Operation Eyesight.
 There being no further business President Gerd closed the meeting.
 
Sponsors