Fraud cases in Quebec up 15 per cent 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 Quebec Association of Police Directors (ADPQ).
The ADPQ invited the media to a press conference Wednesday morning at Quebec provincial police (SQ) headquarters to report 'a worrying increase' in fraud in Quebec.
Montreal, Montérégie and the Quebec City area are the regions where fraudsters have claimed the most victims.
However, Laval and Mauricie saw the biggest increase in fraud, 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 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 Bélanger, who is also Longueuil's police chief.
According to data compiled by ADPQ, 36,898 frauds were reported and listed by police services in Quebec in 2023, compared with 35,116 in 2022 and 32,032 in 2021.
Tip of the iceberg
But these figures "are very conservative," according to Bélanger, because "the data collection methodology may differ from one police department to another," but above all because "many victims prefer not to report, too often for fear of judgment or shame" or "because the sums stolen are not substantial."
The thousands of frauds reported each year are therefore, in his view, "just the tip of the iceberg."
Police are also noticing more and more frauds committed with the help of artificial intelligence.
"What's now happening is the voice is sometimes faked" and "artificial intelligence makes it possible to clone the voice of a grandson calling his grandparents to tell them he's in trouble and needs money," explained Bélanger.
He added that "police forces are putting a lot of effort" into trying to counter this new phenomenon.
$3 million since the start of the year
Over a three-month period in 2024, from Jan. 1 to March 31, Quebecers reported losses of nearly $3 million, compared with $123 million nationwide.
The ADPQ pointed out that even though romance scams 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 romance fraud since the beginning of 2024, and are said to have lost $800,000.
In Canada, there were 217 victims for the same period and reached $9.6 million in losses.
- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 17, 2024.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NEW Is there a cost to convenience? Canada approves new cancer immunotherapy treatment
A new cancer treatment recently approved in Canada promises to cut treatment time down to just minutes, but experts have differing opinions on whether it's what's best for patients.
Air Canada walks back new seat selection policy change after backlash
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
Canada's new dental program offering hope of free care to millions but many dentists aren't signed up
A new Canadian dental care program is offering the hope of free care to millions, but while 1.7 million people have signed up for the plan, only about 5,000 dentists have done the same.
Province boots mayor and council in small northern Ont. town out of office
An ongoing municipal strike, court battles and revolt by half of council has prompted the province to oust the mayor and council in Black River-Matheson.
King Charles III returns to public duties with a trip to a cancer charity
King Charles III will return to public duties on Tuesday when he visits a cancer treatment charity, beginning his carefully managed comeback after the monarch’s own cancer diagnosis sidelined him for three months.
NDP says Ottawa's new grocery task force isn't living up to government promises
The federal government says the task force it created to monitor and investigate grocery retailers' practices has not conducted any probes and doesn't have a mandate to take enforcement action.
A group of Toronto tenants have been on a rent strike for a year and say there's no resolution in sight
Dozens of tenants in Toronto's Thorncliffe Park area have now been withholding their rent for one year, and it’s unclear when the dispute will end.
U.K. police arrest man wielding a sword in east London, 5 people are taken to the hospital
A man wielding a sword attacked members of the public and two police officers on Tuesday in the east London community of Hainault before being arrested, police said.
Archeologists search for remnants of Halifax's 250-year-old wall that surrounded the city
Archeologist Jonathan Fowler is using ground-penetrating radar to search for historic evidence of the massive wall that surrounded Halifax more than 250 years ago.