Fraud Prevention Month
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to provide scammers with opportunities to take advantage of Canadians. March is Fraud Prevention Month. Here are some types of scams you should be wary of during these uncertain times. Note: a new topic will be added each week in March.
On this page
- Buying and selling scams
- Financial scams
- Protecting your information
- Email and text messaging scams
- Prevalent online scams
Buying and selling scams
During the pandemic, people who have never shopped online before have turned to the internet for groceries, everyday shopping, banking and companionship. In 2020, frauds associated to Canadians buying or selling goods or services online accounted for more than $12.9 million in reported losses.
Non-delivery scams (including puppy scams, rental scams, and deceptive marketing of counterfeit goods) have all increased over the pandemic period. Many non-delivery scams are related to the rising demand for personal protective equipment (PPE), such as face masks, hand sanitizers, gloves and face shields.
Beware of fraudsters looking to buy goods or services that you are selling online. Fraudsters will contact sellers via email or text with a generic message wanting to buy an item without seeing it. They will claim to be out-of-town and will offer to pay above the asking price to cover the cost of shipping. The seller will either receive a fraudulent payment in the form of a counterfeit cheque, compromised credit card, or a fake email notification stating that the payment is pending. The email message says that the money will only be transferred once a tracking number is provided by the seller. The seller will then ship the product and provide the tracking number to the fraudster. Shortly after, the seller will realize that the payment notification was fake and that no money is available.
Warning signs
- Be cautious of blowout sales or greatly reduced prices (for example, 80% off)
- Beware of rental units that are listed below fair market value
- Notice text with spelling errors or references to the product as “the item”
- Beware of pets being offered at below market value
- Beware of overseas buyers who want to buy without seeing the product first
- Beware of overpayments for items you are selling
- Beware of high volume purchases that need to be shipped urgently
Financial scams
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose financial challenges and uncertainty for many. Whether it is caused by illness or job loss, financial emergencies can be stressful and cause considerable hardship.
Financial scams pose a significant risk to Canadians. Grant and loan scams, job scams, and investment scams often target people experiencing financial hardship.
Warning signs
- Investment opportunities with higher than normal returns
- Unsolicited investment offers
- Displays of urgency so you don’t miss out
- Companies that offer guaranteed loans, even if you have bad credit or no credit
- Instant approvals
- Unsolicited messages offering employment
- A government grant that’s available to everyone
- A grant that requires no application or is guaranteed
- A grant that requires you to pay an upfront fee
How to protect yourself
- Contact your provincial consumer protection agency and/or financial regulator to confirm that a company is a legitimate lender
- Be mindful where you post your resume. Scammers use legitimate websites to seek out victims
- Take the time to research an employer and confirm that they are hiring
- Get information on grants and funding from the Government of Canada
- Contact your provincial securities regulator if you suspect an investment scam
- If you receive funds for any reason from an unknown individual or company and you are asked to forward it elsewhere - Don't
- Learn more tips and tricks for protecting yourself
Protecting your information
Working from home, online banking, and socializing online have all increased over the pandemic period creating new opportunities for fraudsters to capture your personal and financial information. Fraudsters can then use this information to commit identity fraud. It is important that Canadians take steps to secure their personal and financial information and know what to do when identity fraud occurs.
Recognize the signs that your personal information may have been stolen:
- Missing bills and other mail
- Suspicious activity on your bank or credit card statements
- Letters stating that you’re approved or declined credit that you did not apply for
- Unauthorized applications or accounts on your credit report
- Creditor or collection agency calls about an application or account you do not have
- Bills from service providers that you do not use
- Phishing emails asking you to click on links or open attachments
Reject:
- Unsolicited emails, phone calls or mail asking for personal or financial information
- Requests for your social insurance number (SIN)
- It's virtually a key to your identity and credit reports
- Links in any email that looks suspicious
- Never open an attachment from spam or sender not known to you
- Automatic login features that save your username and password
- Take the time to re-enter your password each time
- Sharing everything through email and social networking sites
- Default privacy settings on your social accounts
- Check your credit report at least once a year
- To get a free copy of your report, contact: Equifax Canada and TransUnion Canada
Learn more tips and tricks for protecting your personal information.
Report:
- A lost or stolen wallet to your local police
- Compromised government identification to the affected government agency
- Re-routed mail requests to Canada Post
- Suspicious bank account activity to your financial institution
- Unauthorized activity on your credit report to the credit bureaus: Equifax and TransUnion
- Loss of account access to the appropriate company
Learn more about what to do if you’re a victim.
Email and text messaging scams
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) has documented an increase in fraud and cybercrime attacks launched by email and text messages. While some of these attacks were Coronavirus themed, CERB-related and, more recently, COVID-19 vaccination themed; many of them had the same intention: to trick you into opening malicious attachments or to trick you into revealing sensitive personal and financial details.
In addition to COVID-19 themed messages, the CAFC has also documented a general increase in phishing scams and extortion demands requesting bitcoin payments, job scams, merchandise scams and more targeted attacks such as spear phishing.
Top 5 email and text message scams in 2020
How to protect yourself
- Remain current on frauds targeting business and educate all employees
- Include fraud training as part of new employee onboarding
- Have detailed payment procedures
- Encourage a verification process for unusual email requests
- Avoid opening unsolicited emails or clicking on suspicious links or attachments
- Take a few seconds to hover over an email address or link and confirm that they are correct
- Back up your system/data regularly and keep the backups on a separate removable hard drive
- When done, don’t forget to disconnect
- If possible, check the backup(s) from a separate computer that uses a different operating system
- Take the time to research an employer and confirm that they are hiring
- Learn more tips and tricks for protecting yourself
Prevalent online scams
With the COVID-19 pandemic ongoing and lock downs continuing, Canadians confined to their homes are increasingly relying on the Internet and social media to stay connected. This presents opportunities for fraudsters who are actively creating fake accounts, profiles and advertisements. Here are some prevalent online scams and warning signs:
- Romance scams
In romance scams, fraudsters will gain the trust of their victims by carrying on a relationship over a period of time. This can include displays of affection like sending gifts, flowers and tokens to prove that their feelings are genuine. In many cases, the fraudster will claim to be a professional business person or military personnel that are travelling or stationed abroad. Once trust is gained, fraudsters will begin to ask for financial assistance for reasons like urgent situations (e.g. a sick family member or to complete a business transaction) or to return to the country (e.g. plane ticket, lawyer fees, or duty & taxes).
Learn more about romance scams.
- Immigration scams
From ads offering guaranteed work permits and high paying jobs in Canada to websites that offer services to expedite your immigration application, fraudsters are using Canada's good reputation to scam people looking to come to Canada. Victims will be asked to pay high fees via Money Service Businesses like Western Union or MoneyGram, e-transfer, Visa or prepaid gift cards in order to process an application for visas and/or work permits. Once money is sent, the fraudster ends contact with the victim.
Learn how to protect yourself from immigration fraud.
- Deceptive government service scams
Planning to book a road test or renew your passport? Beware of third party companies offering to do it for you. Access to most government services is free. Any applicable fees will be collected when you submit your application.
- Education scams
Are you looking for learning opportunities while you are laid off or out of work due to COVID-19? Look out for websites offering free trial training opportunities that require a credit card to register; it could be a subscription trap. Unless victims review the terms and conditions on these sites, it is unlikely they will see the hidden fees associated to the offer. These fees usually include overpriced monthly charges that are nearly impossible to cancel.
Warning signs
- Attempts to meet in person never happen and they always have an excuse
- Fraudsters want to develop a quick relationship with you
- Be suspicious when someone you haven't met professes their love to you
- Be cautious of an individual that claims to live close to you but is working overseas
- This is a set up for the fraudster to provide you with many reasons to ask for money
- If you are asked to accept a payment from someone you've met online and send part of the funds back to them or someone else - don't do it
- You are asked to pay to access immigration forms and guides
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) only charges fees to process your application
- Forms and guides are free on the IRCC website
- The website offers any of the following:
- too good to be true immigration deals
- guaranteed entry into Canada
- high-paying jobs or faster processing of your application
- You must provide personal information, financial information or make a deposit before you even start the application process
- You must provide credit card information to register for a free trial
- Third party websites designed to look like official government sites
- Websites suggesting that they can speed up your passport application
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