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Getting rich quick

Scamming people is a growth industry
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Scammers aren’t Robin Hood, stealing from the rich to give to the poor, and they’re not the charming scoundrel or con man portrayed in movies, making their big score off some rich fat cat and or gangster who will hardly know they have lost any money.

I suspect that in reality, those type of people rarely get scammed — they didn’t get their rich by giving their banking information to a Nigerian widow who desperately needs to get her husband’s fortune out of the country. No, scammers generally prey on the rest of us, where the pickings are easier and they can take advantage of our weaknesses, whether that be lack of knowledge of computers or desire for a chance at the easy life.

According to the Better Business Bureau 2016 was a particularly good year for scammers, who slipped more than $90 million out of our pockets and into theirs. That’s more money lost to scammers than in the previous two years in Canada, and 50 per cent more than was stolen in 2015.

The increase may be due in part to more reporting of the crime, but the BBB says it’s just the tip of the iceberg, and probably only about five per cent of what scammers really managed to steal.

Looking at the scams on the BBB’s top 10 of 2016 list share common themes. Scare tactics like the Canada Revenue Agency Scam; abuse of trust in identity fraud and investment scams; employment scams, fake lottery winnings all offer an easy path to the good life.

Sadly, falling in the second slot on the list, and the most money reported lost, is online dating scams, or “catphishing.” Hopeful lovers reported losing $17 million last year, and that has to say a lot about the type of person that thinks this is a way to make a living.