Bikramjeet Singh of Miramichi has been taking extra steps to protect himself from phone, text and email scams since he lost $600 to a fraudster in 2021.
“They are professional. They are doing it for their living,” he said. “This happened to me too many times when I came to Canada. Everyday, I received one call.”
The calls came from international numbers, he said, and the callers tried to convince him to provide his banking or credit card information.
Singh’s story is just one of thousands across Canada.
According to data from the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre website, over 15,000 victims across the country had lost $284 million to fraud as of between Jan. 1 and June 30 of this year. Last year, 41,988 Canadians lost $569 million to scams, it said.
In New Brunswick, the amount of money lost to scams continues to rise.
The Canada Revenue Agency is inviting people to an escape room activity to help them understand how to spot scam.
In the first six months of 2024, New Brunswickers lost almost $5.7 million in scams, said Nancy Cahill, a spokesperson for the centre. That’s up from 2023, when about $3 million worth of stolen funds in the province were reported, she said.
In an email statement, Cahill said a significant amount of money lost in New Brunswick was attributed to crypto-romance investment fraud, also known as “pig butchering.” That’s when fraudsters find victims on dating platforms and convince them to make crypto investments after winning their trust.
The fraudsters use fake online trading platforms, return a small amount of the investment to the victim and then demand more money. “
The culprits also contact previous investment scam victims later by phone, email or social media or using search engine optimization, said Cahill. The victims are asked to pay a fee to the scammers, who pose as recovery agents, and in some cases remote access to the victim’s computer or other device is requested, leading to further loss of money.
CRA scams on the rise
Scams pretending to be the Canada Revenue Agency increase during the tax filing season every year, said spokesperson Jeffrey Lansing.
He said a common scam involves targeting seniors on a low income, luring them to a fake website by offering extra payments from the agency.
“I think that could definitely have not only financial impact, but also just emotionally that would have a really negative effect I think on anybody,” said Lansing.
“It is really important for us to try and do what we can to try and raise awareness about scams of people trying to pretend to be the Canada Revenue Agency.”
CRA’s test to educate
Recognizing that such scams are becoming more sophisticated, Lansing said the agency is using a creative method to educate the public.
The organization is hosting what it calls “escape room” activities at public spaces across the country. Each participant is given three minutes to answer four text messages and two phone calls while doing tasks such as getting off a bus and placing groceries in kitchen cabinets.
“We’re going to put a little bit of pressure and stress on you because when you’re getting text messages in your day-to-day life, you’re not necessarily going to be focused,” said Lansing.
“We’re trying to make it a little bit more real-world scenario, and see how you do.”
In a second activity, participants are given four minutes to read through five emails, sort four letters and choose which they think could be a scam.
“Unfortunately, we’re seeing with AI … scammers being a little bit more creative and, you know, faking voices and things like that,” said Lansing.
“So it’s really important to be aware of what the CRA will and won’t do when dealing with communications.”
To learn how to protect himself from being scammed again, Singh took part in the escape room event organized by the agency at CF Champlain Place in Dieppe.
Despite being vigilant to protect himself from being scammed again, Singh was surprised at how difficult it was. He scored just over 50 per cent in the activity.
Of the people who participated at the event in New Brunswick, Lansing said the average score was 64 per cent.
“For some people who might be low-income earners, and we talked about seniors, [these scams] could really affect your life,” he said.
“So if we can just prevent one person from being scammed and losing hundreds if not thousands of dollars, then I think we’ve done our job.”
Lansing said it is important for Canadians to know the agency will never demand immediate payments and will never use aggressive or threatening language.
He said when in doubt, people should hang up on a call, ignore a message or email, and reach out to the agency by phone.
Anyone who has fallen victim to a scam is advised to report it to their local police station, the Canadian-Anti Fraud Centre or the Canada Revenue Agency, Lansing said.
