The total losses from fraud against individuals have soared to $16 billion in five years, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada (StatsCan).
“In 2019, one in six (17 percent) people reported that they had been a victim of fraud in the previous five years. The median loss due to fraud was $600. About one-quarter (24 percent) of victims lost $1,000, while 3 percent lost at least $10,000,” said StatsCan in a July 24 news release.
The department asked questions on fraud for the first time in a General Social Survey (GSS) on Canadians’ Safety (Victimization), and examined the prevalence of self-reported fraud in Canada.
Of all the crimes measured by the survey, fraud was the most common, with over 5 million people aged 15 and older stating they had been a victim of at least one instance of fraud in the last five years. That works out to 17 percent of the population….