You’d think we’d never fall into the trap of financial fraud. But fraudsters have more than one trick up their sleeve, and use formidable manipulation techniques. Don’t be fooled!
Text by Marie-Anne Dayé / Photo by Growtika on Unsplash
The types of fraud are varied: phishing by SMS, e-mail or telephone, immigration fraud, consumer fraud, housing fraud, love fraud, employment fraud, financial fraud and fraudulent websites. Fraud is an illegal act intended to deceive, to extract money against someone’s will or to falsify a document.
As of June 30, 2023, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre reported 41,988 victims of fraud of all kinds for the year 2023. Fraude-alerte.ca, a sharing platform of the Cybercrime Clinic, reported 2,375 reports analyzed in 2023. This website lists several cases of fraud, and it is possible to perform a keyword search to find out if other people have experienced the same fraud attempt.
Some signs of fraud
The Desjardins Financial Services Cooperative has listed a few warning signs of impending financial fraud: the request develops a sense of urgency, promises a profit, suggests a problem or is unsolicited.
You should not respond if :
- The information requested is that already held by the bank;
- You will be asked to provide your PIN and password;
- The “bank” asks you to confirm your personal information.
Banking institutions will never ask you for your personal information, such as your date of birth, social insurance number or credit card number, by e-mail, telephone or text message. The same goes for Service Canada, for example: this government organization will never ask for your personal information in this way. Instead, they will contact you by mail.
“Fraud is about manipulating the reality presented to us. So it’s not necessarily obvious for everyone to see the signs of fraud, because not only are we being manipulated, but the questions we ask and the doubts we may have are contradicted, and we’re being reassured by someone we feel is in a position of authority or an expert,” explains Akim Laniel-Lanani, co-founder of the Cyber-criminology Clinic in Montreal. Fraudsters will play on their targets’ emotions, trying to place them in a situation of urgency that lowers their cognitive faculties and makes it harder to think and step back. They will manipulate them with fine words, technical terms or by using fear to achieve their ends.
Beware of immigration fraud
Newcomers, immigrants and even people outside Canada who wish to work or reside in Canada, although they can fall victim to any type of fraud, are particularly targeted by immigration fraud.
Typically, bogus representatives offer assistance with immigration procedures using fake websites, fake forms, and eventually ask for deposits to cover certain purported fees associated with applying to immigrate to Canada.
Fraudsters may also use extortion, attempting to illegally obtain money, goods or services from a person, entity or institution through coercion. Laniel-Lanani gives the example of bogus representatives of the Canada Border Services Agency or Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), or a municipal police force threatening to arrest or deport people from the country. In fact, the aim is to invent pretexts to demand money.
On October 2, 2024, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) warned the public about extortion letters sent by e-mail. “These letters contain your full name, personal telephone number, home address and a screen capture of your address from an online mapping service. The letter writers claim you’ve visited explicit websites and threaten to send a video to your contact list unless you pay them in cryptocurrencies. Some letters also include a QR code. This is fraud! Don’t send money under pressure and don’t respond to threatening messages. Report this letter to your local police department and the CAFC.”
How can you protect yourself?
First of all, if you receive a request that arouses your suspicions, take a few minutes to think and question whether it’s relevant to provide this information. Don’t allow a stranger to take remote control of your computer, ask yourself the right questions before clicking on a link, don’t carry out a transaction on behalf of a third party, and certainly don’t send money to someone you’ve met online and never seen in person.
If you witness fraud, report it either to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre or to Fraud-alert.ca. If you are a victim of fraud, i.e., there has been a financial loss, you should also report it to the police.
The project was funded by the Government of Canada.
