Fraud cases in Quebec up 15% in two years

Nearly 37,000 Quebecers were victims of fraud in 2023, an increase of 15 per cent in two years, according to the Association of Directors of Police (ADPQ).

The ADPQ invited the media to a press conference on Wednesday morning at the headquarters of the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) to report a “worrying increase” in fraud in Quebec.

Montreal, Montérégie, and the Capitale-Nationale are the regions where fraudsters have claimed the most victims.

But it was Laval and Mauricie that saw the biggest increase in fraud cases, at 20 per cent.

“The most frequent frauds in Quebec are those involving the fraudulent use of service cards, computers, and identity theft” and “these categories include frauds involving false representatives, grandparent-type frauds, and romance frauds”, said Patrick Bélanger of the ADPQ.

“Every time you use your credit card, every time you answer a phone call, every time you check your e-mail, you are potentially exposing yourself to increasingly sophisticated scams,” added Mr Bélanger, who is also Chief of Police for the Longueuil agglomeration.

According to data compiled by the ADPQ, 36,898 frauds will have been reported and recorded by police forces in Quebec in 2023, compared with 35,116 in 2022 and 32,032 in 2021.

The tip of the iceberg

But these figures “are very conservative”, according to Patrick Bélanger, because “the data collection methodology may differ from one police force to another”, but above all because “many victims prefer not to report, all too often for fear of judgement or shame” or “because the sums stolen are not substantial”.

The dozens of frauds reported each year are therefore, in his view, only “the tip of the iceberg”.

The police are also noticing more and more frauds committed with the help of artificial intelligence.

“Artificial intelligence can be used to clone the voice of a grandson calling his grandparents to tell them he’s in trouble and needs money,” explained Patrick Bélanger.

The ADPQ spokesman added that “police forces are putting a lot of effort” into trying to counter this new phenomenon.

According to the ADPQ, some frauds are the work of members of organised crime.

“Investigations have revealed that certain members of criminal groups were particularly involved in fraud involving bogus representatives,” said Patrick Bélanger.

“Arrests for fraud are made every week,” said Isabelle Boudreault, Director of Financial and Cybercrime Investigations at the SQ.

The ADPQ spokesman “strongly encourages Quebecers to report fraud” of which they are victims.

“Rest assured that you will not be judged, but rather accompanied by our law enforcement agencies”, Patrick Bélanger added.

3 million since the beginning of the year

Over a three-month period in 2024, from January 1 to March 31, Quebecers reported losses of nearly $3 million, compared with $123 million nationwide.

The Association of Chiefs of Police pointed out that although frauds involving lovers are not among the most reported, the amounts lost by victims of this type of crime “are alarming”.

In Quebec, 142 people have reported being victims of fraud since the beginning of 2024, and they have lost an estimated $800,000.

In Canada, the number of victims was 217 for the same period, with losses totalling $9.6 million.

ADPQ and Desjardins Group worked together to create a video that was posted online on Tuesday to raise public awareness of the different types of fraud.

-This article was translated from French by CityNews