Attempted fraud on the rise in Waterloo Region

It's been a bad year for fraud attempts in Waterloo Region.  

Russell Voutour, the Chief Information Officer at Your Neighbourhood Credit Union appeared on Kitchener Today with Brian Bourke on CityNews 570 Wednesday, and said the primary goal is to steal your money.

He said there's a lot of ways they can approach it.

“They use various tactics, and they're always shifting,” said Voutour, “So it's really critical to be aware of how it's moving and what kind of scams are out there.”

Common impersonations are the Canada Revenue Agency and Canada Border Services Agency, but new scams have emerged recently, including the impersonation of pharmacies and police.

Voutour said those types of scams are called social engineering.

“They'll ask you questions about your birth date, or personal information that they can then use to impersonate you when they call your financial institution,” Voutour added.

“It's critical to ask yourself why they are asking you this information.  It doesn't make sense that a pharmacy is asking for my mother's maiden name.”

Voutour said a recent bank study showed three quarters of its respondents said they'd been targeted by fraud.

It's often large scale, organized crime groups that are attempting fraud.

“The scale and scope of it is really concerning,” he said, “They're trying to create a sense of panic…they often target things you may be fearful of… and are trying to make you act before you think.”

YNCU is reminding the public to be aware how common fraud is and ways to detect it.

Voutour suggests reaching out to someone you trust if you're uncertain about a suspicious call, or if you've potentially been a victim of fraud.