Thousands of Canadians fall victim to fraud every year. In 2019, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) received 46,317 reports of fraud from Canadians, where 19,285 were victims with a total reported loss of $98M.
On January 8, 2020, St-Pierre-Jolys RCMP was notified that the detachment’s phone number was “spoofed” and being used by a scammer to coerce a local resident into emptying her bank account.
Staged collision, bogus bodily injury claims, a drunk driver exposed by surveillance cameras – these are some of the auto insurance frauds that took place in 2019 and are highlighted in Manitoba Public Insurance’s annual Top Five Frauds.
A total of 457 calls have been placed to Manitoba Public Insurance’s anonymous TIPS Line as of the end of September – a 38 per cent increase from the previous high of 330 calls received for all of 2016.
Manitoba RCMP are warning the public of fraudulent telephone calls which appear to be coming from the RCMP. The callers are told there is a warrant for their arrest and that they can take care of the warrant by making a payment via bitcoin or money transfer.
For the first five months of this year, Manitoba Public Insurance’s TIPS Line has received a 63 per cent increase in calls compared to the same time period last year.
A total of six charges have been laid against two individuals who allegedly committed separate frauds against Manitoba Public Insurance.
Manitoba Public Insurance is warning its customers not to respond to a text which is offering an e-transfer of money.
It’s estimated that auto insurance fraud costs every Manitoba Public Insurance ratepayer about $50 a year for an overall impact of $50 million. In order to raise awareness about the costs related to auto insurance fraud, Manitoba Public Insurance releases its annual top five fraud list.
Steinbach RCMP are asking the public to help identify a suspect connected to a fraud investigation that began in July of this year.
