Online Fraud
New year, old scams – Stay cautious about phishing scams
January 6, 2020 – The new year starts with phishing scam alerts. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) warns against a rewards phishing scam and members of the London veterans group First Hussars Association were targeted by a spear phishing scam. The BBB advises being...
Quebec celebrities’ phone hacker arrested
Longueuil (December 13, 2019) – Longueuil police arrested Pascal Desgagnés on December 11 for allegedly hacking into several celebrities’ cellphones. The Quebec City man is accused of targeting sports stars and celebrities from the US and Canada at random. Police...
‘Tis the season – Don’t fall for ‘Secret Sister’ gift exchange invitations
November 26, 2019 – The Better Business Bureau (BBB) warned not to fall for ‘Secret Sister’ invitations. The campaign is supposed to be an online ‘Secret Santa’ among strangers but relies on a pyramid scheme and is therefore considered illegal in Canada. Every holiday...
Convicted fraudster allegedly ran international online scam from Nigerian maximum security prison
Lagos, Nigeria (November 22, 2019) – Convicted online fraudster, Hope Olusegun Aroke, allegedly ran an international online scam from a Nigerian maximum security prison while serving his current jail term, according to Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes...
Fraudulent wire transfer request costs Waterloo Brewing $2.1 million
Kitchener (November 22, 2019) – Waterloo Brewing recognized this week that it became a victim of a ‘social-engineering Cyberattack’ earlier this month. A scammer tricked the company in wiring $2.1 million to a fraudulent account. According to the brewery, there is no...
Be aware of government grant scam involving fake Facebook doppelgänger
Saskatoon (November 6, 2019) – Saskatoon police issued a warning to make the public aware of a circulating government grant scam involving fake Facebook doppelgängers. People reported having received messages from apparent Facebook friends. However, scammers had...
Fraud and money laundering ring organizer from Mississauga sentenced by Florida court
Tampa, Florida (November 5, 2019) – Fraud and money laundering ring organizer, Ikechukwu Derek Amadi from Mississauga, sentenced by Florida court to 15 years in U.S. prison for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. The dual citizen of Nigeria and Canada recruited...
Sudbury Real Estate Board warns against rental scam connected to Prop2Go.com
Sudbury (October 29, 2019) – The Sudbury Real Estate Board issued a warning against an alleged rental scam connected to the website Prop2Go.com. The association suspects that rental listings on the website are copied from the brokerage’s real estate ‘for sale’...
Canada post resets passwords for online customers after reported unauthorized access to accounts
October 18, 2019 – Canada Post informed on October 16 that it is resetting the passwords of all online customer accounts after unauthorized accesses to online accounts have been reported to the postal service. According to the national postal operator, their network...
Florida man convicted who was involved in defrauding the City of Ottawa
Fort Lauderdale, USA (October 17, 2019) – Elvin I. Lewis, Jr. has been convicted by a South Florida Jury. Lewis laundered more than US$3 million in fraud proceeds obtained from international cyber scams using Business Email Compromise (BEC) schemes between November...
RCMP arrests two suspects in connection with Bell data breach
Ottawa (October 9, 2019) – RCMP arrested Nana Koranteng and Jesiah Russell-Francis in connection with the Bell data breach in 2018. On October 8, fraud charges were laid against the suspects from Montreal who are alleged to have been involved in the cyber-attack. Nana...
Homeowner warns about rental scam
Langley (October 2, 2019) – Homeowners from Langley warn about a rental scam. Their house was apparently fraudulently posted on Craigslist as a rental property, Global News reported. As already four people were scammed, the legitimate owners of the property are...
Three web domains seized in online job scam
Edmonton (September 30, 2019) – Edmonton Police have seized three web domains as a result of an online job scam investigation. According to the police, there were 93 employment scam reports during the first half of 2019, with a total loss of over $240,000. Authorities...
BBB report: More than US$33,6 million reported losses to BEC scams since 2016
September 27, 2019 – Since 2016, businesses and organizations in Canada reported a total of US$33.6 million in losses as a result of Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams according to a new report of the Better Business Bureau (BBB). The BBB urges businesses and...
Thousands of dollars lost by e-transfer frauds
September 23, 2019 – E-transfer fraud is more common than assumed. In fact, thousands of dollars are stolen by e-transfer fraudsters. CBC’s Go Public reports of 56 people who have fall victim to this scam, their total losses are $64,000. The victims experienced...
Fraudulent Kijiji car ad scams Port Hope resident
Port Hope (September 13, 2019) – A Port Hope resident was defrauded of $500, which he paid for a car, he found in an advertisement on Kijiji on September 10. After he put down the deposit, the bogus seller could not be reached anymore and it turned out that the...
House in Edmonton used as property for rental scam for years, deceived dozens of people
Edmonton (September 12, 2019) – A house in Edmonton’s Dickensfield neighbourhood has been advertised in rental scams for at least four years. Actual tenants state, about a dozen people per year knock on their door expecting to move in, Global News reported. After...
Don’t fall for Advance Fee Loan Scams. It’s illegal in Ontario.
Windsor (September 6, 2019) – Windsor police issued a warning to the public about Advance Fee Loan Scams. The scheme was recently reported to the authorities by three individuals. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) investigated the allegedly fraudulent company, Sherwood...
Fraudulent cheques leave victims of overpayment scams with high losses
Vancouver (September 3, 2019) – A B.C. photographer has fallen victim to an overpayment scam which left her with losses over $4,600 according to Global News. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC), the Better Business Bureau (BBB), and the Canadian Bankers Association...
Caution: Your smart device may not be so smart when it comes to scam
(August 20, 2019) – The Better Business Bureau (BBB) advises against using the auto dial function of smart home devices when looking for a customer service number. The electronic assistants might leave their users with a phony customer service and non-recoverable...
City of Saskatoon became victim of identity fraud scheme and lost over $1M
Saskatoon (August 16, 2019) – The City of Saskatoon has paid $1.04 million to a fraudster after falling for an identity theft scheme. City manager Jeff Jorgenson told media on August 15 that the city is now focusing on the recovery of the taxpayer’s money. The city...