Fraud Prevention Month: Dollars lost to scammers spikes to $638m despite drop in reports

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Significantly more money is being lost to fraud every year despite fewer people reporting scams to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC).

That’s according to Jeff Horncastle, a communications outreach officer with the CAFC. 

Energeticcity.ca spoke with Horncastle during Fraud Prevention Month, an annual initiative to raise awareness for common scams and how to identify them.

According to Horncastle, more than $638,000,000 in losses were reported across the country in 2024, a sharp increase from the $570,000,000 reported the year before.

“It’s still going up substantially,” Horncastle said. “To put that in perspective, we estimate that only five to 10 per cent of victims report to the [CAFC], so in actuality, that number is much higher.”

That increase is part of a trend: in 2020, just $165,000,000 in losses were reported to the CAFC. 

That number has gone up every year since, despite Horncastle saying the number of people reporting instances of fraud has been declining over the same period of time.

“If we compare 2023 and 2024, the number of reports received here has gone down, so the increase in dollar loss isn’t necessarily related to an increase in reporting.”

Fraud Prevention Month commemorated its 21st anniversary this year, during a month that saw a wide array of scams all over northeastern B.C.

Many of those scams came in the form of “impersonation fraud,” which was one of the themes for this year’s campaigns.

“We’re looking at the disguises that fraudsters wear, which is essentially impersonation fraud,” Horncastle said. “Whether they’re claiming to be law enforcement, financial institutions, they could be claiming to be government agencies or even the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre promising to get your money back from a past scam that you’ve been a victim to.”

Impersonation fraud was rampant in the Peace region throughout March, with scammers pretending to be members of the Fort St. John Professional Firefighters’ Association, staff members with the District of Hudson’s Hope, City of Fort St. John staffers and Northern Health workers.

Another theme for this year’s campaign was “the fraudster’s toolbox,” shining a light on the methods behind scammers.

“[That involved] looking at dark web resources and technology, artificial intelligence, spoofing, social engineering – whether it be phishing or, again, impersonation fraud – urgency and fear.”

Horncastle said another goal of the initiative was to raise awareness of fraud’s impacts outside the financial world.

“$638 million was lost in 2024 to fraud overall, but there’s way more to it than that,” he said. 

“It can contribute to emotional distress, psychological effects, social isolation, loss of trust. A lot of shame comes with being a victim of fraud.”

Part of why it can make victims feel ashamed of themselves, Horncastle explained, is the dismissive way we talk about fraud when we identify it, calling it “just a scam” despite the widespread impact it has on people.

“That attitude contributes to victim shaming, leading to further negative effects on victims and, ultimately, lowering reporting rates,” he said. “We estimate that only five to 10 per cent of victims report to the [CAFC].”

In terms of important signs to watch out for, Horncastle said the most common aspect of any scam or fraud incident is a sense of urgency.

“Fraudsters want you to act very quickly,” he said. “Whether you’re on social media and you see a blow-out sale, but you ‘have to act right away’ or you’ll miss out on that opportunity to save money, or you get a phone call and they’re telling you that you have to act immediately or you’re going to go to jail, or a loved one will go to jail.”

He said fraudsters always want to make sure their victims don’t discuss the issue with anyone else. As such, the CAFC advises people to stay calm, take their time and not let themselves feel pressured.

“Always take the time necessary to look into it, and in a lot of cases – most cases – you’ll protect yourself from being a victim.”

Horncastle also said it’s essential to acknowledge that anyone, regardless of their age, education or background, can become a victim of fraud.

“Fraudsters are constantly changing their methods, making it increasingly difficult to identify fraud,” he said. “So, by breaking the stigma surrounding fraud victimization, our goal is to encourage victims to come forward and report incidents without fear of judgement.”

Horncastle urged anyone who has been a victim not to feel ashamed and to report the incident to the CAFC or law enforcement.

The CAFC website has an extremely detailed breakdown of what to do if you’ve been a victim of fraud.