Protect Yourself From Scams and Fraud

The YMCA of the National Capital Region is committed to keeping our members, participants, and community safe. Unfortunately, scammers sometimes impersonate trusted organizations like the YMCA to try to gain access to your money or personal information. We want to help you distinguish between a legitimate YMCA request and a fraudulent one.

The YMCA of the National Capital Region does charge reasonable fees for some programs and memberships, such as Health, Fitness & Aquatics Memberships. Legitimate payments are only made in person at a YMCA location guided by a Y staff member or online through the program’s secure portals. We will never collect payment any other way.

The YMCA will never:

• Ask you to pay by gift card, cryptocurrency, wire transfer, or e-transfer to a personal account.
• Request unrelated personal details with a payment.
• Pressure you to pay immediately or “keep a payment secret.”

What to watch out for:

• The web address, email, or phone number is slightly “off.
• The payment demand is urgent or threatening.
• The payment method requested is unusual, or the offer seems “too good to be true.”

When in doubt, don’t take action! If you have questions, please get in touch with the YMCA program directly through the information provided here on our website, ymcaottawa.ca. We’re always happy to help confirm whether a payment request is legitimate.

To report fraud, please consult the Ottawa Police website here to file a police report or contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

Keeping our members and community safe is a responsibility we take seriously. Thank you for helping us do this by staying alert.