Here are the top scams circulating in the east region: OPP

Someone making an online purshase. FILE Photo. (iStock)

Posted Jan 10, 2025 12:43:55 PM.

Last Updated Jan 10, 2025 12:44:03 PM.

Police are sharing what they call a “real life fraud story” that happened in the Town of Bancroft recently, as scammers continue to target people.

According to a press release from the provincial policing agency, officers received a call in December 2024 for a scam involving the employee of a local business. Police said that the fraudster called the employee and pretended to be working on behalf of the business owner.

The scammer had enough details to convince the employee, the release notes.

The suspect had the employee take out a large amount of cash, drive to Peterborough, Ont. and deposit it into a Bitcoin machine using digital QR codes sent to the victim. Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and other agencies have seen “several” of these incidents with a similar scheme.

“It can be difficult to trace and often the culprits are in another country,” officials note. “Although this story involves a business, police have also had similar stories with private citizens.”

Data shows increasing amount of money lost to scams

Swindles like this are becoming all too common in the east region and across Canada, John Armit, Detective Constable in the economic crimes and corruption unit of the OPP, told CityNews in an interview.

“Ontario will have the largest fraud stats and the same thing is population-based for east region versus west,” he said. “But we’re all seeing the same pattern.”

Which are unsuspecting victims losing — at times — thousands of dollars to scammers. OPP don’t have specific statistics to pull from and instead use the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre’s (CAFC) data. Semi-official data shared with CityNews from Armit notes a “staggering” increase in the amount of money Canadians have lost to fraud in 2024.

"Between five and 10 per cent of the population report to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center or to law enforcement," Armit said. "So when you're looking at the $638 million that's just insane."

Top scams in east region

However, Armit stresses that due to the low number of reports, the amount of money lost is likely much higher. There is no specific data for the east region but police say that the number one scam they are seeing is cryptocurrency investment fraud.

The dubbed "get rich quick" ploy sees bad actors manipulate and groom a victim's interest and lack of understanding of crypto assets. When the individual agrees they transfer increasing amounts of money to accounts.

The CAFC notes that these scams represent the highest reported losses in 2023. Fraudsters often reach out on social media or through "wrong number" texts and try to develop a relationship with the victim.

Armit says bank investigator frauds are also common. In these, a scammer calls a victim and makes up a story about catching a bank employee who has been stealing money or claims to help the victim resolve suspicious transactions. The victim is directed to dial *72 which forwards any calls from their phone number to an alternate phone.

Romance scams are also very popular to target people in the east region, Armit said.

These see a person convince a victim they are in an online relationship, gaining the victim's trust and affection. This can happen through email, profiles on social media and dating sites. The CAFC notes that eventually the scammer will ask for:

Money to travel — a medical emergency or family assistance making it seem urgent
Receive money for them — by doing so the victim could be unknowingly committing a crime
To join a business venture with them
To invest in cryptocurrency

Fraudsters will convince victims by "any means necessary."

A large amount of reports come into the east region detachments for identity fraud or phishing scams. This is where a person clicks on a link and enters personal information thinking they're logging into their bank account, for example, Armit said.

Similarly to that is a spear phishing or also known as a business email compromise. This can be called a CEO fraud and it's where people in different organizations, community groups or businesses are targeted by emails.

"It's an email that they get and they click on malware. They don't realize it, and then, behind the scenes, the malware is basically putting a rule in their (email) and any correspondence they get, is blind copied to this bad actor's email," Armit said.

Using this information the scammer could gain access to the organization's bank account or bill an invoice.

"Then their accounting department just pays it, and it's a wire transfer for, let's say, $100,000 and it's going to a bank in Hong Kong," he said.

Solving rates decreasing

The majority of the scams solved by police can be linked back to organized crime, Armit said, whether suspects are in Canada or in another country.

Sometimes the culprits could be bad nation-state actors, but Armit says OPP cases don't tie back to those specific scammers because the suspects are able to anonymize themselves beyond the capabilities of provincial police.

What is alarming is how rapidly technology has evolved allowing fraudsters to hide themselves from law enforcement.

"The amount of arrests and then prosecution that we're having has significantly declined because of the use of technology," he said. "You may have a spoof number, a voice-over-internet number, it could be using money mules."

Those are people who are moving money wittingly or unwittingly on behalf of the scammer.

All these tactics make tracking down lost funds extremely difficult for police.

"That's why you're seeing the sophistication and the decrease in arrests and charges," Armit said.