51暗网

Based on reports to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre,聽$379聽million was lost to scams and fraud in聽2021. Photo credit: Poike/iStock

For nearly two decades now, relevant industry partners, government agencies, and law enforcement in Canada have observed March as 鈥楩raud Prevention Month鈥�.

This year鈥檚 campaign to help individuals and businesses recognize and avoid fraud in all its forms is especially important, given that 2021 was a historic year for financial losses reported to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC).

According to the CAFC, $379聽million was lost to scams and fraud in聽2021, an increase of聽130 per cent compared to聽the previous year.聽

鈥淔raud is having real impacts on individuals, businesses and organizations,鈥� said Chris Lynam, director general of the CAFC and head of the RCMP鈥檚 National Cybercrime Coordination Unit.

鈥淢any don’t think it could happen to them but last year’s jump in reported financial losses demonstrates that that’s not true. While law enforcement and partners continue to work to prevent and disrupt fraudsters, we need Canadians to learn how to protect themselves and always report.鈥�

Over the last two years, the pandemic has had a major effect on consumer behaviour, with more and more individuals and organizations turning to the internet to engage with various services and conduct daily business.聽

Cybercrime has grown in tandem with this massive shift to online services.聽聽

鈥淩aising awareness about fraud committed online is crucial to protect our communities,鈥� said Denis Beaudoin, director of financial crime at the RCMP. 鈥淎s criminals often target vulnerable people, the RCMP is committed to work with its partners to assist in the prevention and detection of these offences.鈥�

Just last month in the Niagara Region, several senior residents were defrauded out of well over $100,000 in a matter of weeks in what local police called the .

In one , an 80-year-old woman from Niagara had $21,000 stolen from her over four days in a complex scheme that involved a scammer impersonating her grandson.

鈥淚mpersonation scams have become increasingly more sophisticated. Fraudsters have taken advantage of consumers as we’ve grown more reliant on the Internet to shop, socialize and for entertainment,鈥� said Canada鈥檚 Commissioner of Competition Matthew Boswell.

鈥淭his Fraud Prevention Month, the Bureau and its partners are helping Canadians recognize, reject and report scammers trying to rob them of their hard-earned money.鈥�

Based on reports to the CAFC, the top five scams and fraud in聽2021聽were extortion, phishing, merchandise scams, service scams, and vendor fraud.

The crimes that resulted in the highest financial loss last year聽were investment scams, with losses exceeding聽$113聽million.聽

A new trend seen by the CAFC, there was a noticeable increase in cryptocurrency scams.

This past November, a 51暗网 youth was for stealing $46 million worth of cryptocurrency from a resident of the United States in the largest individual crypto theft from one person ever reported in North America.

According to 51暗网 police, the youth used a 鈥淪IM swap attack鈥� to steal the funds. A SIM swap attack is a type of account takeover fraud that manipulates cellular network employees to duplicate phone numbers so threat actors can intercept two-factor authorization requests.

Currently, the CAFC estimates that only 5 per cent of all cases of fraud are reported to the agency.聽

The CAFC and the RCMP’s聽National Cybercrime Coordination Unit聽are working together to develop a聽聽for individuals, businesses and other organizations to report fraud and cybercrime incidents to law enforcement.聽

The new system is expected to officially launch in聽2023-2024.聽