{"id":57914,"date":"2025-08-22T13:16:04","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T16:16:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaker.ca\/?p=57914"},"modified":"2025-08-22T13:16:04","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T16:16:04","slug":"n-s-rcmp-investigating-hvac-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/?p=57914","title":{"rendered":"N.S. RCMP investigating HVAC scam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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DARTMOUTH:<\/strong> The Nova Scotia RCMP Commercial Crime Section (CCS) is investigating multiple reports of fraud relating to the sale of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scammers are exploiting HVAC companies that are advertising genuine energy efficiency rebates online to lure people into signing up for loans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once potential victims have entered their personal details into a social media link or website that appears to be about government-affiliated rebate programs, the information is sent to the fraudsters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scammers employ staff who believe they\u2019re working for legitimate companies. These employees then follow up with prospective victims, arranging for sales reps to visit their homes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ADVERTISEMENT:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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High-pressure sales tactics are then used to convince people to sign expensive financing contracts that can total more than $30,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the loan agreement is signed, the victim\u2019s funds go straight to the scammers\u2019 bank account,\u201d says Cpl. Andy Bezanson, CCS investigator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen the fraudulent HVAC representatives cut off contact, leaving the victim to pay off the hefty loan for a system they never received.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investigators encourage anyone looking to purchase an HVAC system to do their due diligence. This means researching the company, its equipment, and who they\u2019re offering financing through. It\u2019s also important to be wary of financing that goes directly to companies, especially before work has started, and to understand how legitimate energy rebates work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou should never feel pressured to hire a contactor or enter into a financial contract with them; that\u2019s a red flag,\u201d says Cpl. Bezanson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd don\u2019t provide any personal information until you\u2019re sure that the company you\u2019re dealing with has an established record and is in good standing with the Better Business Bureau.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ADVERTISEMENT:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The investigation is ongoing, with assistance from the Halifax Regional Police Integrated Fraud group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone with information about this scam is asked to call police. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anonymous tips can be sent to Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can also submit a secure web tip at www.crimestoppers.ns.ca<\/strong><\/a> or by using the P3 Tips app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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DARTMOUTH: The Nova Scotia RCMP Commercial Crime Section (CCS) is investigating multiple reports of fraud relating to the sale of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Scammers are exploiting HVAC companies that are advertising genuine energy efficiency rebates online to lure people into signing up for loans. Once potential victims have entered their personal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4065,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[965,12],"tags":[196,2,9047,13,14,1332],"class_list":["post-57914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-hants","category-featured","tag-east-hants","tag-fall-river","tag-hvac","tag-lower-sackville","tag-rcmp","tag-scam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}