Common Scams and Frauds in 2024
It may not come as a surprise to learn that the most common scams and frauds happening in 2024 are all online. Digital infrastructure gives fraudsters the ability to communicate with individuals all over the world while maintaining anonymity.
The best way to steer clear of these crimes is to arm yourself with knowledge. This is a list of the most common scams/frauds happening in 2024 (source: OPP Dt Sgt John Armit & CTV News).
- Investment and Crypto Fraud - Frequently taking the form of an ad on social media or elsewhere online. Many victims will follow these ads into a conversation with a bad actor instead of an experienced investor.
- Spear Phishing - Malware links are sent in a way to try and trick the end-user into clicking on them. Frequently taking place in corporate inboxes, where money and data are at risk, these attempts usually take the form of a manager or client asking for something important to be resolved on a rushed timeline.
- Romance Scams - These have existed for some time. Someone overseas typically strikes up a conversation, either representing themselves or a fake identity. They chat back and forth for some time before asking for cryptocurrency or gift cards.
- Job Scams - Some criminals use fake jobs to lure people into letting them use their bank accounts to launder money/run fraudulent transactions. These jobs are usually offered, unprompted, through services where resumes are posted. They ask for bank account and social insurance information pretending it's for payroll, and instead run multiple transactions through it. Once the account is frozen, the scammer goes silent.
- Service Scams - Typically targeting seniors, service scams look for vulnerable people offering tech support, software updates, or worse yet, in-person signing of documents for a new product or service, with the fraudster using the signature to attach a lien on their home.
