Saskatchewan
More and much Saskatchewan residents are becoming victims of fraud, and they're losing much money.
Online scams getting much predominant and sophisticated
Scott Larson · CBC News
· Posted: Jun 18, 2025 5:32 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago
More and much Saskatchewan residents are becoming victims of fraud, and they're losing much money.
Saskatchewan RCMP say reports of fraud person astir doubled implicit the past 10 years.
"I deliberation what is down it is astir apt much and much radical person entree to technology, and radical committing these frauds are becoming much and much savvy tricking people, spoofing numbers, spoofing emails," said RCMP Const. Kristy Fines, who investigates fraud crimes.
Fines said virtually everyone these days gets immoderate benignant of online solicitation meant to bargain your money.
"Last week I got an email saying it was from SGI and I had missed a outgo connected my car wage for my vehicle," Fines said.
"So alternatively of clicking the link, I went down to SGI. I'm like, tin you conscionable cheque this? And they were like, no, everything's good with your account."
Fines said any sense of urgency successful specified a petition should be an contiguous reddish emblem that you could beryllium dealing with fraud.
"They privation you to nonstop the wealth close away," she said. "I archer radical you request to conscionable dilatory it down. Just instrumentality a measurement backmost and dilatory it down. Think astir what's happening."
Email phishing scams asking you to click connected a nexus are precise common.
"Particularly erstwhile it comes to cryptocurrency," Fines said. "People spot an advertisement connected Facebook, oregon connected a game, and click connected the nexus and past earlier they cognize what's happened, they've sent wealth to this fraudster."
Old-school telephone calls, similar the grandparent scam wherever idiosyncratic claims to beryllium a grandchild successful occupation needing wealth close away, are besides inactive happening.
Sgt. Lorna Dornstauder, an serviceman with the Saskatoon provincial wide probe section, said successful a merchandise that analysts analyse fraud-related transgression information to place trends and patterns. They past effort to walk that accusation connected pass the nationalist of the latest online scam.
Fines said determination are fraudsters who continually deed the aforesaid victims with what's called a betterment scam.
"A fraudster volition defraud idiosyncratic and past contiguous themselves arsenic a lawyer trying to get their wealth back, but besides with a fee," Fines said. "So the unfortunate volition past nonstop much wealth successful the hopes of getting their wealth back."
Worse still, the thieves tin run connected the acheronian web and merchantability your accusation to idiosyncratic else.
Fines said astir scams originate extracurricular of Canada and erstwhile your wealth leaves the country, it is precise hard to get it back.
"These radical are very, precise bully astatine what they do," she said.
RCMP offered these tips to support yourself from being scammed:
- Monitor your banking relationship regularly for immoderate suspicious activity.
- Scammers tin spoof telephone numbers and marque it look arsenic though they're calling from a trusted source.
- Slow things down. Scammers make a consciousness of urgency erstwhile they call.
- If you are unsure if a telephone telephone from a expected comparative is simply a scam, bent up and scope retired to them with a fig you cognize and trust.
- Never springiness retired idiosyncratic accusation similar your name, address, SIN oregon banking accusation implicit unsolicited calls oregon emails.
- Don't beryllium acrophobic to accidental no, or intimidated by high-pressure income tactics oregon requests to nonstop wealth close away.
- Anyone tin go a unfortunate of fraud.