March 7, 2020 – March is Fraud Prevention Month in Canada. This month law enforcement services and the Competition Bureau Canada launch their annual nation-wide campaign that educates to recognize, reject, and report fraud. It is crucial to inform the public about the schemes of the scammers because everyone is at risk of becoming a victim of fraud. Thousands of Canadians fall victim to fraud every year. To stay on top of the scams, fraud awareness remains vital for fraud prevention.
Fraud Prevention Month is an annual, nation-wide public awareness campaign held in March that works to prevent Canadians from becoming victims of fraud by helping them recognize, reject, and report it. This year marks the 17th anniversary of the annual education and awareness campaign that began in 2004.
Fraud Prevention Month
Spearheaded by the Government of Canada through its Competition Bureau, Fraud Prevention Month is a unique effort that brings together over 80 law enforcement agencies, as well as public and private sector organizations. During March, numerous activities and endeavors are informing Canadians about the impact of fraud and how to protect themselves. For the most part, the Competition Bureau publications target, low quantum consumer-type frauds.
Through CFN, we provide information and press release services to Canadians on more significant quantum frauds that are generally preventable with the type of due diligence offered through our coverage.
Everybody is at risk
According to the Financial Crime Trend Bulletin 2019 of the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC), the agency received 46,465 fraud reports from Canadian consumers and businesses in 2019. These scams produced 19,285 Canadian victims of fraud with a total reported loss of $96,163,328.64. However, the CAFC believes that the actual numbers are much higher since less than 5 percent of fraud victims report their occurrences to the agency.
Read more: CAFC’s list of top frauds in 2019
‘Most people don’t think that they would fall victim to fraud, but fraudsters are using increasingly sophisticated methods to target people and the impact can be devastating. Retirement savings, homes, businesses and, in some cases, lives have all been lost to fraud,’ said Sgt. Guy Paul Larocque, acting officer in charge of the CAFC.
Fraudsters target everyone. Every demographic is at risk of falling victim to fraud – teens and elderly but also consumers as well as big cooperations. For that reason, fraud awareness remains vital for fraud prevention.
Fraud awareness
The OPP is warning of the latest SIM Swap and Number Porting scams during their Fraud Prevention Month campaign launch. The constant education of the public about the current schemes is at heart of their efforts to combat fraud. This is truly a Sisyphean task since scammers keep changing their schemes to complete the scam. As soon as the public is aware of one scheme, they alter it to successfully trick people to send them money.
‘Law enforcement and partners work tirelessly to stop fraud from happening and to conclude ongoing investigations, however, prevention and awareness remains one of the key tools to stopping fraud. We ask that you do the following: recognize, reject, and report fraud,” concluded Sgt. Larocque.
