Common scams

Whether you list an online ad for local sale or through a website, scammers will typically:

• Offer to pay more than the requested price
• Ask you to ship items to a different location

If you notice that the potential buyer is acting suspicious, immediately stop talking to them and keep a record of your conversations.

Call us immediately at 1-866-625-0561 if you receive money from an unknown individual or company and are asked to forward it elsewhere.

The email sounds urgent and states that a family member has lost their belongings while on vacation. The tone and language the fraudster uses are different from the family member they’re impersonating.

If you receive an email asking for money urgently from a friend or family member, try contacting them using a line of communication you’ve previously used to confirm if they’re indeed on vacation or in need of funds.

Make sure not to reply to the email before you confirm with the actual friend or family member. Save a copy of the fraudulent email to have a point of reference for future attacks. 

If you are experiencing a vacation scam, call your local anti-fraud centre to report it. For Canadian citizens, contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) at 1-888-495-8501 or visit the CAFC reporting page for more information.

If you have already transferred funds, you should also call 1-866-625-0561 and report it to us.

Finally, contact your family and friends to advise them that your email may have been hacked. 

The scammers committing these cons often follow a similar pattern of behaviour. Look out for red flags, such as:

• They won’t meet you in person or even in a video chat
• They profess their love and move the relationship forward very quickly
• Their online profile is bare, with very few interactions with others and few friends/followers
• There are inconsistencies between what they post on their online profiles and what they tell you
• They ask for personal or financial information or intimate photos or videos, which can later be used for blackmail
• They ask for money for things like medical bills, education expenses, phone bills so they can keep talking to you, or even bus or airplane fare so they can come see you
• Be especially wary of any urgent requests for money

• If you suspect you may have fallen for a romance scam, stop all contact immediately. Never delete any messages and keep them for recordkeeping. 

• Provide your local police with as much information as possible
• Report the incident to Scotiabank (and any other financial institution you may have a compromised account with)
• Immediately put a stop to any outstanding payments
• Additionally, file a report with your local anti-fraud Centre. For Canadian citizens, contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) at 1-888-495-8501, or visit the CAFC reporting page for more information. 

If someone calls you and claims to be a family member or friend in an emergency and urgently asks you for money, don’t fall into their trap.

Scenario’s fraudsters may use include:

• Needing bail money because they’ve been arrested
• Needing money urgently after being in a car accident
• Needing money to return from a foreign country 

Here’s a few simple steps that you can take to avoid falling victim to this scam:

• Never offer personal information to the caller – have them tell you instead. If they prompt you with a question like: “Do you know who this is?” Simply say ‘No.’ and have them tell you who they are.
  
• Ask for details. Ask them questions about their specific location or have them repeat their story in greater detail. Scammers have a hard time recalling details or coming up with them on the spot.
  
• After you hang up, verify the story by calling the parents or other relatives of the “grandchild,” even if you’re told to keep the call confidential.
  
• Never wire money or send an e-transfer to someone under uncertain conditions.
  
• Never pay with a gift card. No real business or government agency will insist you pay them in this method.
  
• Don’t provide your credit card number over the phone or internet unless you are sure about who you’re giving it to.

If you believe you’ve been a victim of the emergency/grandparent scam, call us immediately at 1-866-625-0561 and report it to your local anti-fraud centre.

For Canadian citizens, contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) at 1-888-495-8501 or visit the CAFC reporting page for more information. 

A scammer claims a virus has infected your computer or that an urgent update is required. The communication might happen through:

• Unsolicited phone calls claiming to be from a well-known tech company.
  
• Alarming website pop-ups that demand you call a number urgently.
  
• Often the fraudster states that your computer is sending out viruses, or has been hacked, and must be serviced immediately. They request access to your computer via remote login to clean your computer, but instead they install fraudulent programs or alter settings which track your activity or monitor your keystrokes to gather sensitive data.
  
• The fake tech support representative may ask you to pay a fee for fixing your computer via credit card or money transfer. In some cases, the scammer asks you to log into your bank account now to transfer funds - so they can capture your bank account information and login credentials. 

Keep the following in mind if you receive an urgent message to fix your device:

• Well-known companies will not send unsolicited email messages or make unsolicited phone calls to request personal or financial information, or to provide technical support to fix your computer.
  
• If a pop-up message appears on your computer screen with a phone number, don’t call the number. Error and warning messages on computers never include a phone number.
  
• A reputable company will never ask that you pay for tech support in the form of money transfers or cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, or gift cards — don’t send any money!
  
• Don’t give anyone control of your computer.
  
• Download software only from official websites. Be wary of downloading software from third-party sites, as some of them might have been modified without the author’s knowledge to bundle malware and other threats. 

If you have provided sensitive information or remote access to a tech support scammer, call us immediately at 1-866-625-0561 and report it to your local anti-fraud centre.

For Canadian citizens, contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) at 1-888-495-8501 or visit the CAFC reporting page for more information.

How can you tell if a contractor may not be reputable? Here are some tactics fraudsters use:

• They knock on your door looking for business because they are in the area.
• They say they have leftover materials from a previous job.
• They ask you to pay everything up front or only accept cash.
• They suggest you borrow money from a lender they know.
• They offer prices for labour or materials that are much lower than market rates/value.
• They promise to complete the work much faster than anyone else.

Be wary of any salespeople offering cheap, speedy services, especially if the service is unsolicited. Here’s some advice to help protect yourself and your money:

• Consider only contractors who are licensed and insured — you can check using official public registries.
• Get contractor recommendations from people you know and trust.
• Read online customer reviews with a critical eye; if all the reviews are too good to be true- they’re likely fake!
• Get multiple written estimates that include a description of the work to be done, materials, completion date and price. Don’t automatically choose the lowest bidder and ask for an explanation if there’s a big difference among the estimates.
• Before signing a contract, make sure everything is written out clearly, like start and finish dates, cost, and understand the scope.
• Don’t let the contractor arrange financing for you. Scammers may try to talk you into taking out home equity loans or reverse mortgages to pay for repairs and arrange for the lender to pay them directly.
• Don’t pay the full amount for the project up front and never pay in cash.

Keep track of all conversations, letters, and documents. Make sure to document all phone conversations by following-up with an email which you can retain as evidence.

If you are not able to resolve the issue with the contractor, report it to your local police station and anti-fraud centre. For Canadian citizens, contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) at 1-888-495-8501 or visit the CAFC reporting page for more information.