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Nottawasaga OPP warns of top scams in 2022

March 3, 2023   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The Nottawasaga Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Polic and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre are continuing to promote awareness of ongoing fraud and scams that are being attempted by criminals.

In 2022, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre received 90,377 fraud reports involving over $530 million in reported losses.

Identity theft and fraud top the list with 19,400 victims. Investment-type frauds resulted in 4,251 victims losing over $308 million.

There are several ways you can protect yourself from fraud and scams.

You should create strong passwords for your online accounts, as well as set multi-factor authentication to make it more difficult for someone else to access your accounts.

When buying online, you should be familiar with the terms of service and how payment methods work before using them.

Never accept money or send money to a third party. You may be participating in money laundering, which is a criminal offence.

Avoid reacting automatically to an online request. Take five minutes to ask additional questions and listen to your instincts. If something doesn’t seem right, it probably isn’t.

Do not trust the information on your call display, as it can easily be manipulated.

Never provide personal or financial information on demand. Be wary of any requests from banking or financial institutions requesting your information, even if it is from a bank you deal with.

Try to remain current on trending frauds and protect others by sharing what you know.

Anyone who suspects they have been the victim of cybercrime or fraud should report it to their local police and to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre’s online reporting system or by phone at 1-888-495-8501.

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