In fast-growing Alberta, job seekers have lost millions to employment scams since 2022

Ellyse Swayze got the occupation — and it outgo her $700.

The 39-year-old Edmonton woman  was laid disconnected from her occupation astatine a telephone centre successful April 2021.

In October of that year, she recovered a occupation posting connected Facebook Marketplace for a virtual idiosyncratic assistant. Within astir 24 hours, she had messaged the recruiter, gone done a virtual occupation interrogation connected Telegram — a messaging app and societal media level — and was hired, starting the adjacent morning.

Swayze's archetypal task astatine her caller job was to draught emails to clients of the concern that had hired her. Next, she deposited a $700 cheque to her slope account, to screen the acquisition of 7 $100 Amazon acquisition cards, intended as compensation for immoderate clients.

Clerks astatine the cause store were apprehensive astir selling her the acquisition cards due to the fact that of the fraud risk. But Swayze, anxious to marque a bully content connected her caller employer, assured them it was OK.

She returned location with the cards, scratched them to reveal their confirmation codes, and sent photos of them to her employer. That meant her employers present had entree to the cards.

"Sometimes I inactive shingle my caput astatine it. I privation I wasn't truthful naive," Swayze told CBC News. "But erstwhile you're successful a distressed concern similar that, looking for work, I conjecture you conscionable thin to not look astatine the broader broadside of things."

Swayze was past directed to bargain much acquisition cards, this clip receiving a $1,000 cheque from the employer. Recognizing her slope mightiness clasp those funds, she visited a subdivision to retreat the cash. But the teller spotted reddish flags and recommended that Swayze telephone her leader immediately.

Dread acceptable successful aft she explained the concern to her boss, who suggested she effort different bank, Swayze said.

When she learned the cheques she received were counterfeit, she filed a study to the Edmonton Police Service, arsenic the slope teller suggested.

"I americium grateful that it was lone $700, but astatine the time, I didn't person $700 to lose," she said.

The wealth Albertans are losing to employment oregon occupation fraud schemes, which prey connected radical looking for work, is rising rapidly, contempt a tiny summation successful the fig of reported victims, according to information obtained from the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, the nationalist constabulary bureau that gathers accusation astir fraud and individuality theft.

Investment scams stay by acold the highest-grossing strategy successful Alberta, but occupation schemes climbed to No. 2 past year, information shows.

In 2024, fraudsters reportedly took astir $4.8 cardinal from astir 190 victims successful Alberta. The wealth mislaid is up much than tenfold from 2022, erstwhile $440,000 was taken from astir 160 people, information shows.

"Where there's success, [fraudsters] are going to repeat. They're going to travel back," said Det. Scott Abbott of the Edmonton Police Service financial crimes section.

Law enforcement officials told CBC News that occupation fraudsters took vantage of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced many radical to enactment remotely, and besides from fiscal exertion — namely cryptocurrency.

Their caller occurrence besides coincides with monolithic migration to Alberta, and higher unemployment with fewer occupation vacancies.

"Fraudsters bash wage attraction to circumstances and existent events, truthful they volition tailor approaches to bespeak that," said Cpl. Sean Milne of the Alberta RCMP financial transgression team.

Alberta has experienced grounds colonisation maturation successful each of the past 2 years. Roughly 4.9 cardinal radical lived successful the state successful 2024, an summation of astir 380,000 from 2022, Statistics Canada colonisation estimates suggest.

Most of those newcomers came from different provinces — peculiarly B.C. and Ontario — and countries, StatsCan information shows.

Alberta's yearly unemployment complaint roseate to 7 per cent past year, information shows, portion the occupation vacancy rate, erstwhile adjusted for seasonality, dropped to 3.3 per cent in December 2024 — the latest period available.

"Fraudsters prey connected vulnerabilities," said Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre spokesperson Jeff Horncastle. "If occupation opportunities are hard to travel by successful a definite region, past there's a accidental that fraudsters are going to capitalize."

Milne said that erstwhile the system tightens, determination tends to beryllium a emergence successful occupation fraud arsenic good arsenic indebtedness and assistance scams, due to the fact that fraudsters may drawback much radical who are trying to get income.

Abbott, the EPS detective, listed respective tricks scammers use to pull and link with radical — immoderate of which align with what happened to Swayze.

They often station an advertisement online promoting distant enactment and precocious wages, Abbott said. Then, they effort to physique a narration with those who respond — sometimes interviewing them — and person them to wage for things.

Job scammers person besides shifted toward utilizing cryptocurrency much often, alternatively of banks, due to the fact that determination is less regularisation and less protections, Milne said.

"A batch of crypto exchanges that are utilized by the scammers are not based successful Canada. So the magnitude of oversight — oregon adjacent quality to interaction those exchanges — is overmuch much constricted than if we're dealing with a home fiscal instauration and currency," Milne said.

"It's a overmuch much utile mean for the scammers to run in, and it allows them to relation much effectively, unfortunately," helium said.

Fraudsters also admit that galore Canadians whitethorn not beryllium good educated astir fiscal technology, including cryptocurrency, and that victims whitethorn not recognize they're putting funds into a crypto wallet, Horncastle said.

Police judge the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre information apt doesn't amusement the afloat scope of the issue, due to the fact that lone a fraction of victims study the crime.

"Losing a batch of money, of course, is traumatic for everybody," Abbott said, adding that victims whitethorn besides consciousness embarrassed. 

"We similar to deliberation that, arsenic individuals, we wouldn't autumn unfortunate — 'I'm astute enough.' But that's not the case; [fraudsters] are precise bully astatine their craft, though it's illicit."

Abbott and Milne promote radical who person been defrauded to study to constabulary oregon the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, which partners with the RCMP, Ontario Provincial Police and Competition Bureau of Canada.

Milne besides said anyone who thinks they're encountering a scam — earlier they person been victimized — tin telephone their section constabulary service's non-emergency enactment to inquire for advice.

Swayze, who is present the bakery manager of Fuzion Donuts, a section concatenation successful Edmonton, has not been capable to get her $700 backmost — and she's upset that radical are trying to instrumentality vantage of radical who are already successful dire straits, she said.

Since her experience, she has grown much skeptical, doing much probe astir things she sees online. She urges others to bash the same.