Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre releases top 10 frauds from 2019

Canadians reportedly lost nearly $100 million to fraud in 2019.

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) says it received 46,465 reports of fraud from consumers and businesses last year.

The total reported losses from fraud was $96,163,328.64. The number, however, is likely much higher because the agency says less than five per cent of fraud victims report their incidents.

Here is a look at the top frauds of 2019.

Top 10 frauds affecting Canadians ranked by number of reports:

Top 10 frauds affecting Canadians ranked by dollar loss:

The CAFC has provided the following top tips to help protect yourself from fraud.

• Create strong passwords for each of your accounts.
• Setup multi-factor authentication to make it more difficult for someone else to access your access your accounts.
• Update the privacy settings attached to your social network accounts.
• Be familiar with the terms of service and how payment methods work before you using them. Look for a fraud protection policy.
• Never, under any circumstance, accept money and send money to a third party. You may, unknowingly, be participating in money laundering which is a criminal offence.
• Avoid reacting automatically. Take five minutes to ask additional questions and listen to your instincts. If something doesn’t seem right, as someone else about it.
• Remain current on frauds and protect others by sharing what you know. Tell two other and ask them to do the same. An unbroken chain of 25 people telling two would cover the entire population of Canada.
• Do not trust the information on your call display because it can easily be manipulated.
• Do not provide your personal or financial information on demand.
• Do not open an attachment or click a link in a unsolicited email or text message.

The CAFC just released it’s lists of Top 10 most reported frauds & Top 10 frauds based on dollar loss. The bulletin also includes the top tips to protect yourself. #Take5 to read through the bulletin and #Tell2 to protect many!#kNOwfraud#showmetheFRAUDhttps://t.co/LRa2LX42vh pic.twitter.com/tXFw8Okm7G

— Canadian Anti-Fraud / En français: @antifraudecan (@canantifraud) February 17, 2020