Phone fraud report first step to solutions, MP says

Phone-related fraud is costing Canadians tens of millions of dollars annually and Windsor-west NDP MP Brian Masse is hopeful the tabling of the first report on the issue in the House of Commons Friday is the initial step in arming consumers, government and law enforcement with the tools to avoid becoming victims.

Masse is a primary mover behind the standing committee on Industry, Science and Technology's presenting the study.

“The bitter irony is you pay a lot of money for your phone and services and it's used against you as a weapon,” said Masse, noting all parties on the committee supported the report's 15 recommendations.

“It's an arms race and we can win this.”

The Liberal government has 120 days to respond to the recommendations in the report. The full report and recommendations can be viewed at ourcommons.ca/ Committees/en/indu by clicking on “Fraud Calls in Canada.”

Canadian Anti-fraud Centre statistics show the problem of phone fraud is rapidly escalating.

There was a year-over-year increase of 600 per cent from 2018 to 2019.

During testimony to the standing committee, the RCMP reported the well-known Canada Revenue Agency scam, which tricks people into believing they owe on their taxes, had bilked Canadians of $17 million between 2014 and 2019.

Fraudulent calls are responsible for $25 million of the $98 million citizens are conned out of annually.

Windsor Police Services Constable Rob Durling, a member of the financial crimes unit, said the pandemic has provided new opportunities for criminals.

“We've seen an uptick in fraud involving CERB (Canada Emergency Relief Benefit),” Durling said.

Durling said seniors and new immigrants are the most popular targets for the calls. He added the source of the calls is a global issue.

“A recent case involved a woman who thought she was buying a used car on Kijiji,” Durling said.

“She sent a guy $18,000. We traced the money to London, England, but it's hard go further without co-operation.”

Kevin Cosgrove, an IT specialist/ educator working with Windsor Police, said another popular con is the remote support scam.

“It's usually initiated by someone calling you saying they're from Microsoft and Apple,” Cosgrove said. “I can assure you none of those companies will ever call you at home to say there's some type of problem.”

Cosgrove said it's estimated only five per cent of phone fraud is reported in Canada because victims are ashamed or embarrassed.

Both Masse and Durling agreed a key step to combating fraudulent calls is better communication between governmental departments, the CRTC and law enforcement.

Due to current laws, useful information often can't be shared.

Durling said navigating the paperwork to get access to the required information, if possible, results in losing valuable time and allows the criminals to slip away.

“I'd like to see better co-operation on this between corporations, the CRTC and law enforcement,” Durling said.

Masse said much of what needs to be done doesn't require major legislative action.

He noted bitterly the CRTC'S decision to postpone requiring phone/internet providers to implement new technologies they already possess that would help filter out some of these suspicious calls. The requirement was supposed to kick in last September, but was pushed back to June 30, 2021.

“We need to start by helping ourselves,” Masse said.

“Some stuff, like the CRTC sharing information, does need a little bit of legal changes, but it wouldn't have to be a comprehensive change. There are some regulatory changes that can take place as well.

“Each department has to go back and evaluate themselves on how they're dealing with fraud and come back in a year to Parliament. We're creating benchmarks.”