MANITOULIN—A quarter-page ad that ran in the November 22, 2023 edition of The Expositor, on page 10, has been identified as a scam and readers are asked to be wary of responding.
“An email came in from a man asking to place a personal ad in the paper,” Expositor publisher Alicia McCutcheon explained. “There was a great deal of discussion about the ad and whether it was legitimate. Our sales manager, Robyn McGauley, responded to the email and even chatted with the person over the phone. Once he gave us a credit card number, we felt we had enough information to proceed with the ad.”
“Personal ads, while not frequent in this newspaper, are not uncommon,” the publisher explained.
The ad was published in the November 22 edition and sought women between the ages of 59 and 75 to respond to an email. A few days later, once the credit card had been processed, the man claimed the charge was fraudulent with the credit card company. “Our suspicions were once again raised,” Ms. McCutcheon said.
Last week, the Ontario Community Newspapers Association, of which The Expositor is a member, issued a warning about other newspapers that had been targeted by this same individual, both in Ontario and Alberta. The ads were nearly identical.
“The safety of our readers is obviously of the utmost importance,” Ms. McCutcheon said. “We’re a newspaper—we fact check all that we do to the best of our ability. Unfortunately, there are things that manage to get by us.”
Ms. McCutcheon urges anyone who might have responded to the ad to cease all communications with this person immediately. “Clearly, they are not who they claim to be,” she said. “We apologize for any distress this may have caused.”
The email addresses used by this individual are: wade152@hotmail.com and oceandeep152@gmail.com.
If you have any questions or concerns, please email editor@manitoulin.com or call Ms. McCutcheon at 705-368-2744.
