Technology like artificial intelligence is helping scammers to find unwitting victims to defraud, despite attempts to increase awareness about their tactics, police say.
Grandparent scams are still among the most common, OPP Const. Trevor McKean said.
“We’re still dealing with many of the same scams. People are still falling victim to the grandparent scam,” McKean said. “Sadly, with the advancements in artificial intelligence, it helps the people perpetuating these scams.”
McKean said one of the best ways people can protect themselves is to become aware of tactics scammers may use.
In a grandparent scam, a scammer will telephone a senior pretending to be that person’s grandchild, and tell them they need money to bail them out of jail.
McKean said many scammers will scour public Facebook pages, and many seniors are happy to post videos and photos of their families, which can be used by scammers to imitate voices and find names of relatives.
“People post a lot more videos now, and the (scammers) can hear their voices. Through AI, they can alter their own voices,” he said.
McKean also said that part of the Canadian bail system means anyone who acts as a surety to post someone’s bail must appear in-person or virtually in court to do so, and will not be required to hand over money on the phone.
“It’s not real. We don’t put a deposit down here. They would be informed of conditions. It’s just a pledge – they don’t have to put any money down,” he said. “Also, people in jail here can make as many calls as they need to to reach a surety.”
Other types of scams include romance, extortion, investment, mortgage, loan and merchandise scams.
“There are new scams by email or text messages every day,” he said. “They’re just waiting for someone to respond to them.”
In 2022, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) received more than 91,000 reports totalling approximately $530 million in losses, the highest fraud losses on record. Ontario was the province with the most frauds reported that year, 25,595, costing victims $213 million.
Overall, McKean advises to think critically about unsolicited email and text messages.
“Look for grammatical errors, because the majority of the scams originate from Asia or Africa...where English isn’t their first language,” he said.
He also said that whenever he does fraud and scam presentations in the community, he is regularly alerted by attendees to scams he’s never heard of before.
“My presentation changes all the time,” said McKean. “As long as people ask us to continue to provide it, we’ll continue to do it.”
