Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Citing a "significant increase" in fraudulent activity in Canada in the last two years— the majority of which in the last year has been happening online—the RCMP is calling on Canadians to be aware of scammers' tactics.
Speaking to MPs on the House of Commons Industry and Technology Committee on Monday, during a hearing on the prevalence of fraudulent calls in Canada, RCMP Director General for National Cybercrime Coordination Unit Chris Lynam said that since 2020, officials have seen this marked increase in scams, including through email and social media.
"Part of the challenge… is that you're dealing with very highly adaptive people, and they're criminals. So they can very easily pivot to adopt the newest technique... For example, they will watch what's happening in terms of an incident or a government-type rebate, and very quickly they'll be able to figure out how to go and put that scam pitch out to Canadians," Lynam said. "We now think over 70 per cent of the activity is cyber-enabled."
According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAC) so far this year, there have been 61,305 reports of fraud, 38,812 victims of fraud, and $332.7 million lost to fraud in Canada, as of the end of August. These figures include online scams as well as fraudulent calls.
In all of 2021 the CAC received 107,139 reports of fraud, targeting 68,061 victims, and resulting in $383 million lost. Lynam said that the 2021 figures were a 130 per cent increase from 2020.
"Oftentimes, we're dealing with thousands of victims, multiple policing jurisdictions, cybercrime, infrastructure, and digital evidence in foreign countries," he said. "At the same time, CAC estimates that only five to 10 per cent of victim victims actually report fraud to law enforcement," he said.
Calling fraud an "omnipresent challenge," the lead for the RCMP's cybercrime unit said arrests aren't the only way to tackle the issue, citing prevention and awareness-building as other necessary tools.
Noting October is Cyber Security Awareness month, Lynam said it's important for Canadians to "be aware of what's happening out there," pointing to federal initiatives undetaken, including outreach to seniors and an online reporting mechanism that's in the process of being updated.
The committee voted last month to renew its look at fraud in Canada—hearing both from federal officials as well as stakeholders on the latest developments—in follow up to a previous study and report from 2020 that called for the government to be more transparent and proactive about fraudsters targeting Canadians.
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.