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Whether buying or selling online this holiday season or any other time of year, you should question every transaction, say police and two people who were caught up in fake online scams.The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre says more than 30,000 people have been defrauded in 2024, for a combined total of $503 million lost to fraud — from romance scams to identity theft. Merchandise fraud alone, including Facebook Marketplace scams, cost Canadians $7.1 million between January and September.
The seller asked Church to send an e-transfer and gave her an address in Kitchener to pick up the planters.But Church never got her planters. Once she sent the money, the seller stopped answering her calls or texts. "I'm annoyed, but it was my own fault, right?" Church said. "Like, it was too good to be true. I should have questioned it from the get-go, but lesson learned."The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre says more than 30,000 people have been defrauded in 2024, for a combined total of $503 million lost to fraud — from romance scams to identity theft.
That's when the email is used to send a link to a third-party site, Anderson said, and it requires the seller to sign up to claim the money. He said the tip-off you may be dealing with scammers is they're too eager to sell products or buy them at full price, they don't ask any questions or they send a third-party link for payment.
Armit said that last year, there were 460,000 calls to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, but the organization can only process 250 calls a day."We encourage people to report through their police jurisdiction, to those online platforms, but also to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre online reporting system," said Armit, adding people should also warn others on the website if they've fallen victim to a scam."We're not going to arrest our way out of cyber crime or fraud.
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