When West Hants resident Drew Kaulback wanted to pay his Nova Scotia Power bill, he did what most people do: he searched for the phone number online.
A toll-free number popped up as the first result and he called it.
The number was not, in fact, the utility but instead a sponsored link for an elaborate scam that would leave him scrambling to secure his accounts.
The man who answered asked him for his account number and birthdate as identification and asked if Kaulback would prefer to pay by credit card over the phone or by email transfer.
Kaulback opted to pay by card.
Before he gave out his card number, he asked the scammer to prove that he was working for Nova Scotia Power by telling him the date of his last bill, the amount that was owed and how much was paid.