Frequently Asked Questions

Below are some common questions regarding technological crimes.

Q. I received an unsolicited e-mail from a foreign country or a financial institution.  Is this email legitimate?

A. This type of e-mail was not likely intended specifically for you but it is a well known "scam" that preys on hopeful people.

Although it may seem you are the personal recipient of one of these e-mails, it is most likely that the intended recipient was an entire group of people in a group mailbox at your internet service provider, such as Rogers, Bell, Yahoo, Hotmail, Execulink, Excite, or other email service providers.

You can simply choose to ignore this e-mail and delete it from your e-mail program AND/OR you may wish to forward this on to the Technological Crimes Unit for information purposes.

Please note that this type of complaint is well known to police.

Q. I received e-mail about child/adult pornography and I never asked for this email to be sent to me.  What do I do?

A. It is likely that the e-mail message you received was actually destined for a "group e-mail account" which is often the case for "SPAM" (unsolicited e-mail). If you are the holder of a Hotmail, Yahoo or Excite free e-mail account, then you were likely not the intended recipient.

If you have a Hotmail account, then you should consider setting up filters to weed out unsolicited e-mail. If you use Outlook Express as your e-mail reader, then you can setup Message Rules through the Tools menu.

You can simply choose to ignore this e-mail and delete it from your e-mail program AND/OR you may wish to forward this on to the Technological Crimes Unit for information purposes.

Q. I am concerned about my kids using Chat programs.  What can I do to ensure their safety?

A. We have posted several tips in our Kids section for Internet safety.

Internet Safety for Kids

For further information please contact:
WRPS Technological Crimes Unit
(519) 650-8500 ext. 8623

For additional information or to report an incident, also visit: