Recognizing the red flags of fraud is the best defence against these losses, according to the Financial and Consumer Services Commission (FCNB).
The provincial organization will be promoting awareness throughout March, which is fraud prevention month.
Erin King, senior education officer, said New Brunswickers lost a reported $3.5 million to fraud over the past three years.
“The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre believes only five per cent of people actually report losing money to frauds and scams, so the real number is probably a lot higher than $3.5 million,” said King.
There are many reasons why people may not report fraud, but King believes embarrassment and shame have a lot to do with it.
King said one type of fraud which seems to have become more prevalent in the province is extortion scams.
There were 192 reported cases last year, she said, and about 31 victims lost more than $151,000.
“Scammers play on our emotions,” said King. They try to get us to act quickly, they try to scare us. With investment frauds, they’ll try to make us feel like we don’t have enough money saved for our retirement or for our child’s education.”
Even though frauds and scams are changing all the time, the FCNB said the red flags are consistent.
You can be threatened with arrest or prosecution if you do not act immediately, asked to confirm personal or financial information when they have contacted you, or ordered to pay for something in the form of gift cards or cryptocurrencies.
King said another red flag is getting an offer which seems to be a bit far-fetched.
“If it sounds good to good to be true, we used to say it probably is, now we just say it is,” she said.
Scammers use lots of tricks to try and catch you off guard. Be on the look out for these red flags: https://t.co/4c9Otlw12k pic.twitter.com/6NyMAMIapq
— FCNB (@FCNB_) March 2, 2020
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