Scams becoming more sophisticated, harder to detect, industry pros say
CBC
The internet is more complex than it used to be. Posts that could once be taken at face value now might require a second look.
And the numbers don't lie. According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, losses totalling $638 million were reported in 2024.
New Brunswickers reported losing $6 million to investment scams alone in 2024 — five times that of the $1.2 million figure in 2023.
And with scams getting more sophisticated, typos are not always a dead giveaway anymore.
"It can be extremely difficult to detect some of these scams because scammers are using AI to really supercharge the pitches that they make," said Marissa Sollows, the director of communications and public affairs for the Financial and Consumer Services Commission of New Brunswick.
She said fake accounts can be generated quickly under different names or website designs.
The types of scams vary — from newly created accounts selling tickets to an event to cleverly crafted news articles that prey on vulnerabilities.
That's the scam that Sollows said has recently started popping up — fake news articles leading someone to a cryptocurrency scam.
Last week, the commission put out an alert about just such a scam, formatted as if it were an article in the Telegraph- Journal newspaper, using Premier Susan Holt's name and image to promote a crypto site.
The trading platform, called CanCap — not to be confused with CanCap Group — made it appear the premier was promoting it. The headline over the now-removed article and the opening of the piece referred to this being a solution to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs.
"They very much rely on us not being on our guard, not being on our game, and a lot of people are, rightfully so, feeling very anxious about this already," Sollows said.
When people see names of politicians or media outlets they trust, along with a topical headline, it makes it easier for them to react quickly instead of thinking twice — potentially losing a lot of money to fraudsters.
And crypto scams aren't the only ones floating around on the internet.
Renee Black, CEO of Goodbot, an organization focused on public literacy around issues in artificial intelligence and digital systems, said there's been a cookie-cutter style scam operation popping up, often using AI to try to advance believability.
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