Fraud Prevention Month aims to help Canadians recognize warning signs, reject suspicious claims and report fraud to the authorities.

 

Beware of some of the tactics that scammers use:

  • Spoofing: Fraudsters can change the caller-ID that is displayed on your phone, the sender address in an email and often mimic legitimate websites
  • Urgency: By pressuring you to comply with their demands, they are trying to give you less time to consider whether the request is suspicious
  • Emotional manipulation: Fraudster's play on your emotions to trick you into believing their story and sending them money (i.e. romance scams, emergency scams, grandparent scams, charity scams, etc.)
  • Threats: A fraudster may threaten arrest, physical harm, financial harm, release of sensitive information or pictures, and make threats against family members if you don't send money
  • Pop-ups: They may say you've won a prize or that your computer is infected and then provide a toll-free phone number for you to call. Sometimes, they want you to click on them so they can install malicious software or lead you to a fraudulent site.
  • Search engine optimization: Fraudsters can promote their websites to appear in the top results of an online search - they do this so that you are more likely to click on their fraudulent site.
  • Links: Often used in phishing scams, fraudsters send hundreds of thousands of messages with malicious links that can either look suspicious or legitimate
  • Impersonation: Fraudsters impersonate anyone you can think of to trick you into sending money or information. In cases of spear phishing, such as business email compromise, fraudsters study emails and interactions between employees so they can better impersonate someone.

Learn how to protect yourself from fraud at the Canadian Anti-fraud Centre 

If you receive strange emails, texts or phone calls that appear to be fraudulent, report them to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre

If you lost money from a scam (under $5,000), report it to GSPS online: Fraud Under $5,000

If the fraud exceeds $5,000, report it to Police via our non-emergency line at 705-675-9171.

#FraudPrevention #FPM2024

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