Staying safe from fraud online: What you need to know

Financial crime unit police officer in Winnipeg says there are ways to avoid falling victim to fraudsters.

March is Fraud Prevention Month. In 2022, Manitobans lost over $10.4 million through various forms of fraud.

“The most prolific fraud that is happening right now, not only in Manitoba but across Canada, would be investment fraud,” Sergeant Trevor Thompson said in an interview with CTV Morning Live.

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre reported that investment scams contributed to more than $300 million in losses to Canadians.

“We want more people to know what to look for and some of the red flags, predominantly related to cryptocurrencies,” Thompson said.

Fraud happens “through social media platforms, could be through the Internet. People are just curious about cryptocurrency over the last few years. Cryptocurrency assets, this could be money to be made, people seem to think. They don’t want to be left behind. You want to get into crypto, you Google crypto investing, ad pops a website.”

In October 2022, an individual in Winnipeg purchased 5.806 Bitcoin worth $168,000 at the time. He was directed on how to invest the funds. As it was investigated, most of that money had been transferred overseas and converted to another cryptocurrency. Thompson said this investigation was a successful one for the Cyber Investigation Team, as they were able to return $155,000 to the victim. However, crypto assets are difficult to track and often impossible to recover.

“Those investigations could be very time-consuming, very complicated. Very often the assets are beyond the reach. If you lose your money in cryptocurrency, likely your recovery is minimum,” Thompson said.

Potential investors should ensure they deal with a legitimate, reputable entity before making financial transactions.

“The key takeaway for us is there is no way to prevent all fraud, and it really falls back on the individual," Thompson said. "Be aware of what bad guys are doing, how you can protect yourself. Because inevitably everybody will get that phone call, everybody will get that pop-up message on their computer when they are on the Internet. You have to know what to do when you are actually in that moment."

Moreover, agencies across Canada will post fraud prevention information on social media using #FPM2023 throughout March.

- With files from CTV’s Rachel Lagace