Scammers operate (or are affiliated with) "diploma mills" that - for a fee - will provide people with diplomas from real (or even fake) universities and colleges.  Some people knowingly buy these "diplomas" while others are scammed into thinking that this is a legitimate process.  Employers become victims if proper background checks are not done to verify the legitimacy of an applicant's education claims.

Fraudster insists that you pay a fee in order to be eligible for a gift or service (often something you never end up getting).

Typical scenarios include paying a fee to:

• get your bad credit "erased" from your credit history file (which is not possible or legal)

• fast-track an immigration application

• guarantee a job placement

• guarantee a credit card or loan application

• release funds from an inheritance (i.e. from some distant relative you never knew about) or contest winnings (i.e. from a contest you never entered)

Fraudsters leverage the inherent trust in a pre-existing group (i.e. professional association, church group, ethnic group) and then manipulate that trust so that members will finance a fraudulent investment, make donations to a fake charity or otherwise part with their money and/or personal information.

Contractors are hired to perform some type of work (i.e. renovation, repair, new home build, landscaping) and commit fraud by doing one or more of the following:  demand large payments up-front then never start or complete the job; artificially inflate their invoices with unnecessary items; replace agreed upon materials with sub-par items without your permission; subcontract the work to unskilled workers; claim to be licensed tradespersons when they are not; intentionally not acquiring mandatory permits.

While any type of work can be succeptible to this scam, roofing jobs are popular since most home owners will never go on their roof to inspect the repair (or even know if a repair was necessary).

On a larger scale, businesses can also be victims of the same types of schemes in addition to "bid rigging" and manipulation by cartel involvement.

Scams involving offers of employment vary but they can include:

• fake employers insisting that a fee be paid before employment is offered/guaranteed
• real job offers (i.e. courier roles) but the work is actually part of another fraud (i.e. money laundering)
• fake employers soliciting resumes just to collect the personal/work/education details and then using that in another fraud (i.e. identity theft)
• having to provide any banking details, make any financial transactions, or provide your SIN before signing an employment contract

No legitimate business is going to pay you a higher-than-normal wage, in cash, paid daily to do a job that requires no particular set of skills, especially when there is no interview or employment contract signed, and the business has no discernable online or real-world footprint.

In this type of fraud, one or more employees conspire to create a fictitious supplier, vendor or employee which the business then unknowingly compensates (in the form of paid invoices or paycheques).  These "ghost" frauds fall under the category of "occupational" (or "employee") frauds.

Ghost employees are typically created by someone in the accounting/payroll department (since this fake employee needs to be entered into the payroll system).

Ghost vendors are typically created by an employee in the purchasing/procurement/accounts payable department (since the fake company needs to be incorporated into the process of buying/supplying some product or service).

These schemes can be very simple or very elaborate and, once started, can go on for years resulting in thousands to millions of dollars in losses for the company ... even when those companies are considered "small".

Any form of deceipt relating to any part of the health care system.  Fraud can be committed by patients or health care providers (i.e. doctors, therapists, counselors, clinics), as well as by suppliers of health care products and services.  Health care fraud can often overlap with insurance fraud.

Examples include:  patients falsifying the severity of an injury, a therapist falsifying the hours spent with a patient, a doctor manipulating billing codes for treatments that will be reimbursed by the province or an insurance company, a medical supplier providing services they are not licensed/qualified to provide.

The fraudster pretends to be someone in your family, someone you work with, or someone your company does business with in order to manipulate you into sending them money, sharing personal information or otherwise providing them access to information they can use for other scams.

The fraudster can pretend to be:

• a grandchild/niece/nephew who is in trouble and needs money ("grandparent scam")
• utility company, bank/credit card company
• courier/delivery/fulfillment service (i.e. Canada Post, DHL, FedEx, Amazon)
• government agency (i.e. RCMP, Immigration, CRA)
• CEO, CFO or lawyer associated with your company or employer

Corporatations are popular targets for this type of fraud and there is a trend to use AI technology to produce "deepfake" audio and/or video of high-profile employees.  When businesses are targeted, the fraud is often called a "BEC" (Business Email Compromise) or referred to as "Whaling" (a form of "phishing" when the target is an executive).

Any attempt to defraud an insurance company which is typically done in order to be monetarily compensated for something you are not entitled to.

Common insurance fraud schemes include staging car accidents, lying about the items stolen from your house, greatly exaggerating the extent of bodily injuries and falsifying insurance coverage.

Although many insurance frauds are committed by individuals, fraud can also be committed by fake insurance brokers ("ghost brokers"), deceitful appraisers and companies who manipulate WSIB claims.

The fraudster entices you to be part of a "once in a lifetime", "amazing", "highly lucrative" or otherwise incredible investment opportunity, which could involve buying stock, investing in a business, or trading cryptocurrency.  The entire opportunity could be fake, or the opportunity could be real but the fraudster provides you false or misleading information, or they are not legally permitted to broker any deals.

Signs of an investment fraud include:

• promises of profits that are "too good to be true" or far above normal market values (i.e. weekly return on investment of 10%)
• urgency to invest or buy
• vague details about the investment product, no access to it, or you're encourgaged to NOT research the opportunity
• endorsed by celebrities with no concrete evidence of their involvement
• invested funds are requested in cash, payments are made in person (rather than through a secure account or through the bank)
• person offering the deal is not legally registered to do so (i.e. they are not registerd with the OSC - Ontario Securities Commission)
• the investment offer is only marketed on social media sites or via unsolicited phone calls
• a "Google" search of the investment offer provides little-to-no information or details

An umbrella term for any fraud committed by one or more employees against their employer.  Other names for this fraud include "workplace" fraud, "employee" fraud, and "internal" fraud.

The list of frauds is quite long and include such schemes as:

• ghost employees (or ghost vendors)
• embezzlement
• cheque tampering (yes, a lot of businesses still use paper cheques)
• abusing the company credit card by using it for personal or otherwise unauthorized purchases
• falsifying timesheets, purchase orders, sales records
• accepting bribes (or providing kickbacks)
• inventory theft
• intentionally misrepresenting (material) details on the company's financial statements

Occupational fraud happens in every industry and in any size of business.  Schemes can often exist for years, especially if a company has poor internal controls and is not proactively monitoring for fraud.

This is a type of investment scam named after Charles Ponzi (a fraudster in the 1920s) but the structure of the fraud has been around for nearly 200 years.

The fraud relies on people investing their money in some great offer that comes with an incredibly high ROI (Return On Investment) - often with no apparent risk to the investor.  The investment opportunities typically don't exist.  The fraudster takes the money, lives the "high-life", and investors never see their money again.

Ponzi scheme characteristics include:

• fraudster presents an "amazing" opportunity that is time-sensitive
• instructions are to send funds directly to an account or to invest with cash
• investors don't have direct access to their "account", funds, reports, etc.
• there is no proof that the investment is registered or the fraudster is licenced
• updates are via text message, emails or just verbally over the phone
• fraudster is very enthusiastic in the beginning and responds promptly to questions but then seems to "disappear" weeks or months later
• requests to withdraw any "profits" are delayed, ignored or denied, or partial only withdrawals are permitted

A business structure that relies on each person who is brought into the business then turning around and bringing in additional people.  The "pyramid" name comes from the fact that there is typically one person at the top with many people below them - each level down is bigger than the one above it.  Another term for this type of business is "multi-level marketing".

It's important to note that not all pyramid-structured businesses are frauds.  They only become fraudulent when profit by the company is primarily generated by the fees paid by new members rather than from the sale of any products or services.  Without genuine products or services, this structure eventually collapses and only those at the top of the pyramid make any money.

Any fraudulent act relating to real estate transactions which can involve the buying/selling of real estate, related mortages (and liens), house titles, real estate appraisals, and any of the individuals/businesses linked to these transactions (i.e. real estate agents, home owners, investors, lawyers, appraisers, etc.).

Scenarios include:

• fraudsters selling houses that they either don't own or the property doesn't exist
• appraisers artificially inflating the value of a home so that it sells far above market value
• 2nd mortgages being taken out on your home as a result of identity theft
• fraudsters offering rentals that are not theirs to rent, have highly misleading descriptions, or are intentionally double-booked

Criminals use fake identities to create romantic connections and gain someone's trust.  They then use additional deception or even threats to manipulate their victims into sending them money or divulging personnally identifiable information ("PII") that can then be used for some other fraud.  Some of these frauds are carried out face-to-face in the real world but most exist only online.  Online relationships can be particularly dangerous given that fraudsters can use technology to literally appear as any person they want (faking their name, life story, image and their voice).

Romance scams have been around for a VERY long time but fraudsters are now turning their attention to children and teens, and extorting them for money ("sextortion").

A form of extortion that primarily targets children and teenagers via social media platforms (i.e. 79% of incidents start on Instagram and then migrate to Snapchat).  Sextortion statistics on Cybertip.ca.

Fraudsters typically pretend to be in the same age group as the victim, befriend them and eventually convince them to share provacative, semi-nude or full-nude pictures or videos.  These images are then used to blackmail the victim into sending money to the fraudster (with the promise that the images won't be released to friends and family).  Once any money is sent, the fraudster will typically continue to demand money until either the victim literally has no more to give or (unfortunately) they commit suicide.

Sextortion is often enabled through malicious apps (i.e. an app is downloaded to a cell phone that intentionally includes malware that provides the fraudster with access to the Contacts list) and can lead to even worse crimes.

These fraudsters are particularly ruthless and have no compassion, conscience or acceptable level of morals.
 

Pleading with them or trying to reason with them is a waste of time.  Cut off all contact immediately and report the fraud.  The sooner this is done, the sooner you can be protected from further harassment.