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The closer a Prince Rupert woman looked at the deer in her yard, the stranger things became for her. “It was the first time I’ve seen anything like that; it was pretty bizarre,” said Joan Dudoward. Dudoward is a senior residing on 11th Avenue East in Prince Rupert. A flash of movement caught her eye as she scrubbed her breakfast plates on a typical Wednesday morning. Peeking out the window above her sink, she gasped— a majestic buck with massive antlers stood gracefully in her yard. “As soon as I noticed the huge buck, I ran and grabbed my camera to photograph it. I’ve been taking photos since I was a teenager...I photograph everything,” she said. She says he cozied up to lie on the grass and stayed for about half an hour. “He was wiggling his ears so I zoomed in and noticed a tag clipped on him,” she said. “I thought, why is this dear clipped? I got very concerned.” Dudoward, driven by her curiosity, noted that one side of the clip was labelled “BC WILDLIFE 06-529,” while the other read “CALL RAP: 877-952-7227.” It was suspicious because the number displayed is very similar but different from the official number of B.C.’s Conservation Officer Service, which is 1-877-952-7277. Also, the legitimate acronym for their hotline, Report All Poachers and Polluters, is “RAPP,” not “RAP,” as indicated on the tag. She called the number on the neon green tag to inquire about the buck, but reached a woman who spoke to her very hurriedly, she said. The woman, who identified herself as Jessica, wanted to send Dudoward a “free medical alert device” that she could wear around her neck. “We’re very excited to tell you about a special promotion for select callers,” Dudoward recalls the woman saying. She was then asked questions such as her age to check eligibility. Jessica then explained that as a senior, the device would help her in emergencies, such as falls, by alerting her immediate contacts. To proceed with delivery, she said she needed some personal information from Dudoward, such as her address. Then, Dudoward was abruptly transferred to another agent who continued the call. But when she tried to ask her about the buck and why the agency had clipped its number on his ear, they wouldn’t respond but instead continued to promote their products “That’s just cruelty to animals. They are targeting seniors for sure, and hurting the deer in the process,” said Dudoward. She wondered how they must have handled the wild animal to dart him. She questioned, “Did they sedate him? What exactly happened there?” She was absolutely shocked. Dudoward couldn’t comprehend why B.C. Wildlife, a legitimate organization, would have put this company’s number on the buck’s ear. The incident reminded her of this continued pattern of companies attempting to target elderly and vulnerable individuals. “I also have my mother’s old number, and it gets scam calls all the time,” she said. “How can they do that? Especially to seniors. They are trying to decide if they should pay the rent or get medication,” said Dudoward in frustration. She proceeded to contact the legitimate conservation officer’s number, who, like the local RCMP, didn’t pay much heed to her situation, she said. The next day, Dudoward called the agency’s number on the tag again, and the conversation took a completely different turn. Now, the agent asked if she was 18 and was promoting products aimed at youth. They informed her that she needed to pay $3 through a call paywall to proceed to the next step, during which she would be directed to the free products for which she was eligible. “The message keeps changing; this is so strange,” said Dudoward. The Northern View investigated the call and found that it was an intricately designed AI automated voice call. The system guides the caller through different phases by detecting both their spoken responses and the number keys they press. Contrary to Dudoward’s initial belief, it wasn’t a live human speaking to her, but a pre-recorded one. In fact, similar cases of fraud involving medical alert devices have happened in the U.S. before, prompting the New York State Department of State and the Minnesota Attorney General to issue cautionary alerts for consumers regarding these “robocalls.” The authorities advised seniors to immediately hang up, not press any keys when prompted, and avoid sharing personal information. “Fraud is the number one crime against older Canadians. Though people of all ages can be victims of fraud, older people get targeted more than others,” states the Canadian Government on its website. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) says that there have been 40,623 reports of fraud this year up to Oct. 31, resulting in a loss of $503 million. Vishing is a social engineering technique that uses voice communication technology. It involves fraudulent phone calls to trick the victim into revealing personal data. The CAFC advises caution during phone calls. They urge people not to hesitate to say no if something feels off and not to feel pressured by urgency or time limits. They also encourage taking enough time to research before sharing personal information. The Northern View contacted the B.C. Wildlife Federation for a comment regarding the tag on the buck. “The Conservation Officer Service darted this deer Nov. 5 to remove wires wrapped around its antlers. The tag is legitimate, but unfortunately has the wrong number on it for RAPP. The new versions of the tag have the correct number and COS will stop using these older tags,” said Jesse Zeman, executive director at B.C. Wildlife Federation. Although the exact cause of this mistake is unclear, anyone who suspects fraud should contact CAFC at 1-888-495-8501 or their local police.Shopping on Temu can feel like playing an arcade game. Instead of using a joystick-controlled claw to grab a toy, visitors to the online marketplace maneuver their computer mouses or cellphone screens to browse colorful gadgets, accessories and trinkets with prices that look too good to refuse. A pop-up spinning wheel offers the chance to win a coupon. Rotating captions warn that a less than $2 camouflage print balaclava and a $1.23 skeleton hand back scratcher are “Almost sold out.” A flame symbol indicates a $9.69 plush cat print hoodie is selling fast. A timed-down selection of discounted items adds to the sense of urgency. Pages from the Shein website, left, and from the Temu site, right. Welcome to the new online world of impulse buying, a place of guilty pleasures where the selection is vast, every day is Cyber Monday, and an instant dopamine hit is always just a click away. By all accounts, we’re living in an accelerating age for consumerism, one that Temu, which is owned by the Chinese e-commerce company PDD Holdings, and Shein, its fierce rival , supercharged with social media savvy and an interminable assortment of cheap goods, most shipped directly from merchants in China based on real-time demand. The business models of the two platforms, coupled with avalanches of digital or influencer advertising, have enabled them to give Western retailers a run for their money this holiday shopping season. A Christmas tree ornament purchased on Temu. Software company Salesforce said it expects roughly one in five online purchases in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada to be made through four online marketplaces based or founded in Asia: Shein, Temu, TikTok Shop — the e-commerce arm of video-sharing platform TikTok — and AliExpress. Analysts with Salesforce said they are expected to pull in roughly $160 billion in global sales outside of China. Most of the sales will go to Temu and Shein, a privately held company which is thought to lead the worldwide fast fashion market in revenue. Lisa Xiaoli Neville, a nonprofit manager who lives in Los Angeles, is sold on Shein. The bedroom of her home is stocked with jeans, shoes, press-on nails and other items from the ultra-fast fashion retailer, all of which she amassed after getting on the platform to buy a $2 pair of earrings she saw in a Facebook ad. Neville, 46, estimates she spends at least $75 a month on products from Shein. A $2 eggshell opener, a portable apple peeler and an apple corer, both costing less than $5, are among the quirky, single-use kitchen tools taking up drawer space. She acknowledges she doesn’t need them because she “doesn’t even cook like that.” Plus, she’s allergic to apples. “I won’t eat apples. It will kill me,” Neville said, laughing. “But I still want the coring thing.” Shein, now based in Singapore, uses some of the same web design features as Temu’s, such as pop-up coupons and ads, to persuade shoppers to keep clicking, but it appears a bit more restrained in its approach. Shein primarily targets young women through partnerships with social media influencers. Searching the company's name on video platforms turns up creators promoting Shein's Black Friday sales event and displaying the dozens of of trendy clothes and accessories they got for comparatively little money. But the Shein-focused content also includes videos of TikTokers saying they're embarrassed to admit they shopped there and critics lashing out at fans for not taking into account the environmental harms or potential labor abuses associated with products that are churned out and shipped worldwide at a speedy pace. Neville has already picked out holiday gifts for family and friends from the site. Most of the products in her online cart cost under $10, including graphic T-shirts she intends to buy for her son and jeans and loafers for her daughter. All told, she plans to spend about $200 on gifts, significantly less than $500 she used to shell out at other stores in prior years. “The visuals just make you want to spend more money,” she said, referring to the clothes on Shein's site. “They're very cheap and everything is just so cute.” Unlike Shein, Temu's appeal cuts across age groups and gender. The platform is the world’s second most-visited online shopping site, software company Similarweb reported in September. Customers go there looking for practical items like doormats and silly products like a whiskey flask shaped like a vintage cellphone from the 1990s. Temu advertised Black Friday bargains for some items at upwards of 70% off the recommended retail price. Making a purchase can quickly result in receiving dozens of emails offering free giveaways. The caveat: customers have to buy more products. Despite their rise, Temu and Shein have proven particularly ripe for pushback. Last year, a coalition of unnamed brands and organizations launched a campaign to oppose Shein in Washington. U.S. lawmakers also have raised the possibility that Temu is allowing goods made with forced labor to enter the country. More recently, the Biden administration put forward rules that would crack down on a trade rule known as the de minimis exception, which has allowed a lot of cheap products to come into the U.S. duty-free. President-elect Donald Trump is expected to slap high tariffs on goods from China, a move that would likely raise prices across the retail world. Both Shein and Temu have set up warehouses in the U.S. to speed up delivery times and help them better compete with Amazon, which is trying to erode their price advantage through a new storefront that also ships products directly from China. Respond: Write a letter to the editor | Write a guest opinion Subscribe to stay connected to Tucson. A subscription helps you access more of the local stories that keep you connected to the community. The business news you need Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly.