Frauds and Scams

It’s probably one of the most vulnerable feelings you will ever experience.

Of course, you’re not aware when someone is setting you up for a fraud or a scam. Everything seems right in your world until a clue is revealed indicating that you have been had. That clue could be any of several things, depending on where the fraudsters have been focussing on.

Take our friend Kate, a happy grandmother to three grandchildren. She was enjoying a quiet afternoon at home when her phone rang. The person on the other end of the line claimed to be her grandson, and he was in a bind. He said that his friend he was travelling with had been stopped for speeding, which led to a subsequent search of the vehicle he and his friend were in and went on to say the police found drugs in the trunk of the car.

Of course, this took Kate quite by surprise. Her grandson had never been in trouble with the law. She consoled who she thought was her grandson by assuring him that everything would be  OK, and that he should contact his parents immediately to deal with the police and the pending charges.

Kate spoke with her grandson for the better part of a half an hour. Despite being a fake, the person seemed to know many of the circumstances surrounding the family, including dates and times of birthdays and holidays, family members and recent events that had occurred within the family realm.

As the call continued, Kate became more and more worried about the situation her grandson was in. According to him, he was in jail, and he would remain there until someone came up with eight thousand dollars to bail him out.

It was at this point that Kate realized that she was speaking with a very talented, convincing fraudster. If he really was her grandson, he would have known there was no way that she could come up with that amount of money. Her heart sank and she felt violated. Upon realizing that she was speaking with a scam artist, Kate immediately hung up the phone.

 Shaken by the event that had just happened, Kate called the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Fraud Squad. She described what happened to the officer on the line, who said, unfortunately, this was a scam that was happening all over the province, and there was little to nothing they could do without an illegal transaction happening with the fraudster in person.

 So, what is the moral of this story? It’s almost a shame, but you have to be careful who you are talking to on the phone. A good scammer can convince you of the immediacy of their plight to suck money out of you. Kate eventually recovered from the phone call she received and was very lucky she wasn’t convinced to give up any cash, but many people aren’t so lucky.

Scammers and fraudsters will stop at nothing to get your information if they think that you are a good mark for easy money. And they can be relentless in their search for a victim, and quite frankly, they do not care who they are scamming.

There are many types of scams to look out for. According to an investigation performed by the American Federal Trade Commission, the top scam type is Romance scams. Romance scams tug at the heart strings of the victim, convincing them to give up cash and gifts in exchange for the attention of a would-be suitor.

Next on the list is Prizes, Sweepstakes and Lotteries scams. With these types of scams, you get convinced that you are the winner of a substantial prize, but you must pay a “processing” fee for a much larger payout. There is never any payout.

Business Imposter scams also top the list. This type of scam is very hard to detect, because with the proliferation of technology, it is easy for a scam to be put together with computer software and burner phones.

For instance, you might get a call from someone who claims to be from your bank, and your call identifier may confirm they are calling from a number that displays as coming from your financial institution. But really, it is a computer program making the call look like it is coming from the bank. NEVER give out banking information over the phone from an inbound source. Banks do not typically make calls out to clients unless for a very specific reason.

Government Impostors, Investment Representatives and Tech Support scams work in a similar way to the Business Impostor scam. The scammer will try to convince you that you owe money to their organization, or they have a “golden egg” of an investment that you can take part in. Tech support scams are usually supported by malware on your computer – meaning the scammer places a program on your computer either to collect information or prompt you to call them to recover your computer from a crash.

Other scams include Online Shopping scams, Impostor scams, Timeshare Sales/Resale scams. This list is not exhaustive; fraud artists are always figuring out new and improved ways to part you and your money.

Are You a Victim of Identity Theft?

Another, even scarier type of fraud is identity theft. To determine if you might be a victim of identity theft you should look for the following:

 • You are contacted by a creditor because an application for credit that you did not apply for was received in your name and with your address.

• You receive a phone call or letter informing you that you have been denied or approved by a creditor that you never applied to.

 • You receive credit card statements or other bills with your information that you never applied to.

 • You no longer receive your credit card statements or any of your mail.

 • You are contacted by a collection agency informing you that they are collecting for a defaulted account established with your identity that you never opened.

What To Do If You Are a Victim

If you think you have been a victim of identity theft, here are some important actions to take:

 • Contact your bank or credit card issuer right away – the bank will take the appropriate steps to help prevent fraud in your accounts. These steps could include cancelling and reissuing credit or debit cards, investigating and reversing fraudulent transactions and providing further advice to customers.

• Contact local police – contact your local police force and file a report about the fraud.

 • Contact Canada’s credit reporting agencies – if you suspect that you may have been a victim of identity theft, contact both of Canada’s credit reporting agencies, Equifax Canada, and TransUnion Canada, and obtain a copy of your credit report. If there are creditors on the report that you have not done business with, contact those organizations and let them know you have been the victim of identity theft.

 • Consider a fraud alert for your credit files – Equifax Canada and TransUnion Canada can also put a fraud alert put on your credit files. With this fraud alert, creditors that have viewed your credit report will have to contact you before extending credit. This can help prevent someone else from taking out a loan or credit card in your name.

 • Contact other organizations as necessary – other organizations and government agencies may also need to know if your personal information has been stolen and used to commit fraud. For example, you should contact government agencies such as Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) if someone has used your Social Insurance Number to apply for government services.

Now that you know a bit about the type of scams and frauds that are out there lurking in the real world, you can feel empowered to watch out for any suspicious activity on your accounts and personal information.

Remember, scammers and fraudsters will stop at nothing to get your information, cash, or valuables. Don’t give them the opportunity by using common sense, follow the guidelines outlined in this article, and NEVER give out personal information to someone you doubt or don’t know. Go with your gut feeling – if you think the proposition is too good to be true, it probably is.

A year-to-date study by the Canadian Revenue Agency says that there were 90,137 reports of fraud in 2022, with 56,352 victims of fraud and a total of 537 million dollars lost to scammers and fraudsters.

If you would like to investigate scams and frauds further in Canada, go to https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/campaigns/fraud-scams.html