The Manitoba Securities Commission (MSC) is emphasizing the importance of reporting fraud.
Between January and September of 2021, Canadians lost millions of dollars to investment fraud. Yet, only five per cent of frauds are being reported. According to the Commission, as common as investment fraud is, it is very difficult for people to talk about. And yet, fraud thrives in the darkness, meaning there are good reasons to talk about investment scams.
Ainsley Cunningham is Manager of Education and Communications with MSC. She says investment fraud is one of the most common types of fraud in Canada. It comes in all kinds of forms, including telephone calls, yet many times it does not at all look like a scam.
David Cheop, who is Chair of the Commission, says investment fraud is really just a type of fraud under the broad category of fraudulent transactions. He says essentially it is fraud that involves a financial element.
Cheop says first and foremost, the key ingredient to fraud is trust.
“Almost always there is a relationship where a person, for whatever reason, trusts somebody else and it’s that person who is soliciting them for an investment,” explains Cheop.
Jason Roy is a Senior Investigator with MSC. He says there are multiple starting points for how Manitobans fall victim to scams. For example, they could get an unsolicited telephone call, unsolicited email or they may enter some information on a website. Like, that post you see hinting at how…
