MONTREAL 鈥� Melanie McGovern was scrolling through her Instagram feed in February 2024 when she saw her 16-year-old niece had sent her a message.
鈥淚 accepted it. And then the account reached out and asked me for money.鈥�
McGovern knew her niece as a responsible teenager, and they rarely corresponded via that social media platform. She was skeptical.
鈥淪o I texted my sister-in-law and said, you know (her) Instagram has been hacked?鈥�
For McGovern, a spokeswoman at the Better Business Bureau, the experience offered a first-hand look at a would-be crime she sees more and more often online, where fraud schemes are flourishing.
Investment scams have evolved by leaps and bounds from the blatant ploys and spam pitches of decades past, morphing into phoney cryptocurrency websites, false bank correspondence and impersonations of loved ones, including phone calls that draw on voice-cloning technology.
Abetted by artificial intelligence and crypto hype, investment fraud marks a rising threat to Canadians鈥� financial security and demands a range of protection measures.
Investment scams 鈥� where someone tries to convince you to invest funds based on false information 鈥� remained the riskiest scam type in 2024, according to a March report from the Better Business Bureau. Four out of five people targeted said they lost money.
Preying on loneliness and distrust of institutions, the category also had the second-highest median dollar loss at $5,000 per person (romance scams, while less common, took the biggest bite per capita at $6,100).
Some $310 million was reported lost to investment fraud in 2024 compared to $33.5 million in 2020, according to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. However, that figure represents only a fraction of the true tally, as the centre estimates 90 to 95 per cent of incidents go unreported.
Here鈥檚 how to avoid falling victim:
Press pause
If someone reaches out through a messaging platform such as Facebook, WhatsApp, TikTok or via regular text with an urgent call to pour your money into a hot new stock or cryptocurrency, take a breath -- even if you know them personally.
鈥淔raudsters are always trying to create a sense of urgency and they鈥檙e trying to elicit an emotional response from you because that creates this vulnerability or this weakness that they can take advantage of,鈥� said Geoff Morton, senior director of digital fraud strategy at the Royal Bank of Canada.
鈥淭hink twice.鈥�
Banks will never threaten to close your account if you don鈥檛 act fast, or use email or text to ask for sensitive information such as passwords, login credentials or a one-time passcode, according to RBC.
鈥淩emember to take a step back,鈥� said Anthony Ostler, CEO of the Canadian Bankers Association. 鈥淥ne should never be in a rush.鈥�
Phone a friend
Call a pal, loved one, co-worker, or the bank or financial firm purportedly on the other end of the line.
鈥淚f they reach out to you and they say there鈥檚 a problem with your account, it鈥檚 OK to hang up and call back even if you鈥檙e hanging up on the legitimate institution,鈥� Morton said. 鈥淏ut call the number on the back of your card鈥� 鈥� not the number that just rang you.
A call to a trusted person in your life can offer perspective if you鈥檙e unsure. Or, if a contact is apparently asking for money, reach out to them through a different channel.
AI can allow scammers to impersonate a relative鈥檚 voice through deepfake technology, making a call-back to confirm their identity all the more crucial.
Meanwhile, removing contacts whose accounts have gone dormant 鈥� making them ripe for hacking 鈥� from social media friends lists marks one way to block off potential digital predators.
Beware the crypto keeper
Cryptocurrency scams are mushrooming in the online fraud ecosystem, amounting to nearly half of investment scams reported to the Better Business Bureau last year.
Ignorance of crypto trading and wariness of traditional banks can both be exploited by fraudsters. One common tactic is spoof websites and faux cryptocurrency dashboards that showcase your astounding 鈥済ains鈥� after buying digital currency from a legitimate exchange and transferring it to a crytpo address controlled by the fraudster.
鈥淧eople will get emails from the scammer with a fake return, like a spreadsheet showing that their money is growing, or a graph saying you earned this much in so many weeks,鈥� said McGovern. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not realizing that鈥檚 all fabricated.鈥�
Raise your tech defences
On your banking or financial apps, enable multi-factor authentication and alerts for when transactions occur.
Use biometric features such as face or fingerprint identification to log in. Also set up auto-deposits for Interac e-transfers, so you鈥檒l know that any text with a link to deposit one is phoney.
Finally, never allow third-party access to your computer. 鈥淭hat is a big no-no,鈥� said Ostler.
Share your story
If you鈥檙e an investment scam survivor, don鈥檛 be afraid to come forward to authorities and those close to you.
鈥淪cams are often something that we are very embarrassed about or don鈥檛 really want to talk to people about. We also need to break down that stigma because we鈥檙e up against a very sophisticated enemy here,鈥� Morton said.
Elaborate criminal networks 鈥� many of them operating so-called scam farms from large compounds in 小蓝视频east Asia, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime 鈥� bilk billions from victims across the globe each year.
Those contacted by a possible scammer or out money because of one can report the incident to local police and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
Recipients of a message proffering a possible scam can forward the text to 7726 to alert their cellular provider to open an investigation.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 3, 2025.
Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press
