The end of March marked the end of the OPP’s Anti Fraud Month.

Detective Constable John Armit, with the OPP’s Economic Crimes and Corruption Unit, says fraud in all forms is becoming a far more common occurrence thanks to technology.

“I feel it’s a tsunami of cyber fraud that’s hitting Canada. Each region of Ontario, and Canada, is being hit with these frauds. These fraudsters are hitting people day-in, day-out, whether it be phishing attacks, spoof emails, spoof texts, it’s really rampant,” Armit said.

Nowadays, because of technology, Detective Armit says there are many types of frauds that are prevalent and easy to fall prey to.

“Investment frauds, where people are going online and going to spoof websites. Romance frauds, where scammers are getting into people’s direct messaging and purporting to be a love interest, or they’re on dating websites. They’re stealing images online and purporting to be that person,” explained Armit. “With spear phishing, we’re seeing businesses getting fake emails purporting to be a business asking to change banking information. Service scams, where elderly people are being convinced by people to change out components in their house and signing contracts. Then, of course, there’s extortion frauds, which are your typical sim card scams, or CRA where they’re threatening to arrest.”

With so many ways for fraudsters to try and exploit potential victims, Detective Armit says there are simple ways to prevent becoming a victim.

“Always question unsolicited phone calls, text messages, emails. We always tell people to pause, take 5 minutes and tell a couple people, tell your friends. I always say people can be their own detective, so whatever fraud scheme is being thrown at you, you can go onto a search engine and type whatever it is plus the word fraud, and you’d be amazed to see what’s out there,” Armit added.

Should you fall prey to a fraud scam, Detective Armit notes that there are some quick things to do in response to try and mitigate the damage.

“Notify your financial institutions right away. If you believe your identity has been compromised, notify the credit unions and you can a flag on your reports. Grab all the correspondence and information that you have, and report abuse on whatever social media platform you have, and also contact your place of police jurisdiction and report it there. But also remember to also go to the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre’s website and report it there, because that information that you provide could really help crack a case, and help us nationally and internationally arrest some of these fraudsters,” Armit concluded.

For more information, visit the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre’s website here: https://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/index-eng.htm.