As Canadian farm retailer Peavey Mart winds down all its stores and offers steep discounts, it is warning customers of fraudulent websites that are using the opportunity to steal personal information.
Peavey Mart, headquartered in Red Deer, Alta., announced it would shutter all of its 90 locations nationwide in late January and seek creditor protection in a closure attributed to a challenging retail landscape.
With the retailer offering liquidation discounts of up to 30 per cent, it says fake websites and Facebook pages pretending to be Peavey Mart are attempting to steal consumers’ personal information.
Summerland RCMP, in B.C.’s southern Interior, issued a warning Monday about the scam, saying Peavey Mart does not offer online shopping and its sales are in-store only.
“For safety, use an internet browser to navigate to the known business website, or call a nearby location and confirm the correct website and any sales that may be happening,” police said in a statement.
For its part, Peavey Mart says if a social media page does not carry a verified name and checkmark, customers should not click on anything it offers.
It posted graphics of one such Facebook page, with the retailer saying the page in question did not have a Canadian phone number and had the wrong website linked.
Peavey Mart also says it will never ask for credit card payments online or via the phone and advised its customers to call their local RCMP’s non-emergency line if they suspect they’ve been scammed.
Closure blamed on rising costs
The Canadian chain, which marketed itself as a “farm and ranch” retailer, traces its history back to 1967 when it was known as National Farmway. Its first retail location was in Dawson Creek, B.C., and over the decades, it spread across the country.
Though it was briefly owned by the Peavey Company of Minneapolis, it returned to Canadian ownership in 1984, and it says it is “100 per cent Canadian-owned and operated.”
The closure of the chain is likely to hit rural customers and economies, according to shoppers and community leaders who spoke to CBC News.
In a statement announcing the closure, Peavey Mart said that “record-low consumer confidence, inflationary pressures, rising operating costs and ongoing supply disruptions along with a difficult regulatory environment” had created significant obstacles for its business.
