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According to a new survey released by TD to mark Fraud Prevention Month, nearly four in 10 respondents (37%) said they were targeted by fraudsters in the last year, with most fraud attempts happening over the phone (64%), followed by emails and text messages (58%).
Over the past two years, many Canadians have started investing online for the first time, and many have started to turn to online sources of information when making investment decisions. Indeed, one in four survey respondents (26%) reported receiving investment advice online from people they don’t personally know, including via social media and/or direct messaging platforms.
“Fraud can happen to anyone no matter how smart, educated, informed and tech savvy they think they are,” says Sophia Leung, head of protect platform at TD, which oversees fraud strategy and cyber-threat management. “Fraudsters are experts at exploiting an important part of what makes us human: trust.”
Unfortunately, according to Leung, social media and direct messaging platforms are being used by fraudsters to target people with investment scams, where victims are sometimes tricked into giving large sums of money toward fake investments, lured by the promises of get-rich-quick schemes or by illegitimate offers to help invest the victim’s money.
According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, Canadians lost a reported $163.9 million to investment scams in 2021. That’s up from $16.5 million in 2020, an…
