Edmonton Police crackdown on fraud

March 1st marks the beginning of Fraud Prevention Month here in our city. Since 2009, the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) have used the month of March to shine a spotlight onto one of the most common crimes: fraud. Roughly 7.8% of Canadians 15 years or older report being a victim in the past 12 months alone, making fraud the most common crime in Canada.

There are around 27 different types of fraud that exist, the most common forms are:

• Identity Theft: Involves stealing someone’s identity with stolen bank information, Social Insurance Numbers or other sensitive private information to impersonate someone, often for financial gain.
• Credit Card Fraud: Using a stolen credit card or banking information to make fraudulent purchases, online transactions or account takeover.
• Romance Scams: Scammers use Photoshop and other software to deceive and lure victims into a fake romantic relationship. The scammer will ask the victim for money, often due to a fake medical emergency that requires “immediate attention”.
• Deepfake Scams: Scammers will call unsuspecting victims, typically without saying anything, to prompt the victim into speaking. Using AI software, the scammers will be able to clone the victims voice using a modulator. The scammers will then call co-workers or family members pretending to be the victim in a vulnerable situation demanding money.
• Investment Scams: Scammers will get potential investors and partners to invest large sums of money into either a fake companies or investments. The scammer and the money will disappear once the money is received.

When speaking with EPS about the importance of the event, detectives with financial crimes stressed the importance of staying informed. “We’re not going to arrest our way out of this problem,” said Detective Scott Abbott. “I’d love to say as law enforcement, we are, but prevention and education is our next way to combat that.”

Edmontonians lost $48.1 million to scams and other fraudulent crimes in 2024 alone. If you or someone you know feel like you are the subject of a scam, report it. While it can be uncomfortable to talk about fraud and scams, conversations can help in stopping it from happening to others.

“How do you approach family members that maybe don’t want to talk about it? At some point in time, it’s going to come up or something will come up that you can kind of steer the conversation into a financial conversation or a criminal conversation like criminal code offenses,” says Detective Abbott. “Or you can just outright say ‘Anybody here been involved in a scam? I’ve been a victim of a scam. Let’s talk about it.’ Because we all need to know and we all need to share that information.”

Police emphasized that it is always easier to report a potential scam than it is to solve it. Contacting police or the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre is the fastest and best way to report a potential crime.

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