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Canadians Scammed $163 Million So Far This Year: CAFC

TORONTO – According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center (CAFC), in the last year, Canadians have lost more than $163 million to various scams, with 33,000 reports filed with the agency.

At least 15 different types of scams have resulted in collective losses of more than $1 million for victims.

Between January 1 and September 30, the scam with the highest dollar loss was an investment scam, which had 1,145 victims at that time, with losses amounting to more than 61 ,5 million dollars. That costs each person nearly $54,000 on average.

The second most expensive scam was “romance,” which scammed 671 Canadians with a total of about $32 million, or about $48,000 per person on average. In these situations, the scammer will convince their target to enter into a romantic relationship with them with the ultimate goal of gaining their trust and using that trust to demand money. or entice the target into a fake business venture or invest in something.

Phishing Spear and extortion are the third and fourth most expensive scams for victims, respectively, with the online scam since January costing 572 Canadians $21 million and extorting 1,630 people. Canada is 11 million dollars.

When looking at the scams that account for the highest number of victims, instead of the highest amount of money lost, the picture changes.

The type of scam with the highest number of victims is the “personal information” scam, with 3,060 victims. CACF does not assign this value to a dollar because in these types of scams the goal is to gather information about a person rather than trick them into taking their money right away. That information can then be used for identity fraud, according to the CACF website.

Personal information fraud was also the second most reported, with 4,549 reports, just behind 5,741 reports of extortion.

The scam with the second highest number of victims was “commodity,” with 2,222 victims losing a total of $4.6 million. These types of scams often involve fake advertisements selling fraudulent products or legitimate sellers being tricked into sending products without receiving payment. According to the CACF website, there are three common tactics involved when scammers target vendors. In one scam, the victim gets a notification that a payment is in progress, but needs a tracking number to unlock it, prompting the seller to send the item to provide a tracking number, only to receive it. payment no. In another way, the scammer claims they have an account problem and tricks the seller into sending money that they promise to refund, but they don’t. The third scam is when the scammer overpays and then asks for the excess amount to be sent back to them, after which it becomes clear that the original payment was fraudulent.

Among the rarest of the scams was the fraudulent check issuance, of which two Canadians fell victim, resulting in a total loss of $17,738. Two Canadians also lost a total of $346,737 to the “precious stones/precious metal” scam, while only one Canadian was the victim of a purported phishing letter from Nigeria, which cost them more than $13,000. la.

CACF has several tactics to avoid scams. One is to be wary of high-pressure sales tactics that make you sign up for something, buy something, or send someone money right away. Another way is to be wary of upfront fees when accepting something as a prize.

You should always do your research to verify that an organization is real and legitimate before sending money to one. If the scammer calls saying a family member is having a hard time, confirm with another family member to clarify the situation. And don’t give out personal information like your address, social security number or credit card number to an unsolicited caller.

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