Canadians are going through an unprecedented time with fraud cases on the rise across the country. Last year, Canada endured $531 million in losses due to fraud, which was a 40% increase from 2021. To address this important topic, Teranet hosted a Market Insight Forum focused on Combatting Fraud on March 29th.
Teranet’s Vice President of Operations, Financial Solutions, Alexandra Banitsiotis, hosted the panel featuring Cameron Field, Vice President of Toronto Operations at Vidocq Group, John Armit, Economic Crimes and Corruption Unit Detective Constable for the Anti-Rackets Branch of the Ontario Provincial Police, as well as Hemant Sharma and Karol Buczkowski, both Detective Constables for Peel Regional Police.
All experts agreed that while the pandemic might be over; however, its ripple effects are still felt. COVID-19 has been a significant disruptor and one of the biggest reasons for Canada’s exponential increase in fraud cases.
The following are a few highlights from the session:
- There is a substantial increase in auto finance frauds by semi-organized groups using highly sophisticated synthetic IDs.
- Phishing, extortion, personal information and server scams are some of the most common frauds reported at Canadian Anti-Fraud.
- Money laundering is behind all frauds, and fraudsters are becoming more intelligent in using technology and are now working as a part of a highly organized and complex network to target Canadians.
- The truth lies in detail; asking for multiple government IDs is one of the best ways to protect yourself against fraudsters.
Presently, only 5%-10% of victims report fraud cases. Additionally the use of advanced technology, extremely organized money laundering networks with access to vital information and data, highly sophisticated synthetic identity proofs and a lack of workforce are a few critical challenges Canadian authorities are facing when combatting fraud.
The fight against increasing fraud cases might seem like an uphill battle, but businesses and law enforcement agencies are constantly working to tackle the situation. In the meantime, education and information are the best tools to protect yourself from becoming a fraud victim.
