Online fraud is on the rise in Greater Sudbury, police warn

The Greater Sudbury Police Service says it's seeing an increase in reports of online fraud.

Detective Constable Andrew Williams from the financial crimes unitis urging people to never give out personal information over the phone, internet or other means.

"A big one that we see here too is that people allow strangers remote access to their computers, Williams said. "I mean, that's a definite no."

The number of cybercrimes in Greater Sudbury climbed from 381 per 100,000 people in 2022 to 405 per 100,000 people in 2023, according to data from Statistics Canada.

Nationwide, both fraud and extortion accounted for around 60 per cent of criminal internet activitylast year.

"Many Canadians changed their habits through the pandemic where they're spending more time online, and naturally [that] put Canadians more at risk," said Jeff Horncastle, withthe Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre in North Bay.

Vanessa Iafolla runs a firm called Anti-Fraud Intelligence Consulting. She notedthat people who are scammed endure significant financial and emotional stress, and are often unwilling to come forward to authorities.

"I talked to a lot of people who feel stupid, who feel like they should have known better. They brought this on themselves," Iafolla said.

"You've had this plan for your life. You think it's going to go one particular way, and then all of a sudden, everything's gone. Like everything's shaken upside downand there's no clear path forward for you."

Many people, she said, are victimized during a major life event or transition, such as a moveor retirement.

"For many people, it's really not about them. It's about where they are and how much mental capacity they have to think critically," said Iafolla.

She says the legal and judicial systems aren't helping, becausevictims are sometimes told their cases are not considered criminal matters.

"They're sent to civil court to get this money back somehow via a lawsuit; well that requires people to have money for a lawsuit, which I think many people who've been defrauded don't have," said Iafolla, who explainedthat the system is often hard to navigate and does not insure scammers will pay any fines.

She is calling for increased police resources to investigate and assist more fraud victims.

Detective Constable Williams, from the Greater Sudbury Police Service,said residents who are scammed should contact the communications branch of the police service.

"The people up there are well versed in what a fraud is. They will take the person's information, and then it is triaged by an investigator. It goes either to major fraud or our police community response centre for further investigation."

However, he notedthat many fraud cases involve perpetrators located outside the City of Greater Sudbury, creating additional challenges.

"We have the victims here, but the people doing it could be anywhere in the world," he said.

"So we do have a fraud network where we share our information to try and hold these people accountable."