Five people charged in online romance scam

By Thaïs Grandisoli

October 27, 2019

TORONTO, ON — The Financial Crimes Unit of the Toronto Police has charged five people involved in a romance-type fraud scam targeting senior citizens on a dating website.

The victims began a relationship with the scammers online, police said. After a deeper level of trust was established, the scammers prompted the victims to send them large sums of money.

The police seized multiple computers and electronics during a search conducted in the apartments of the suspects. The digital forensics team later used this equipment to gather evidence against the five individuals arrested with multiple charges in September this year.

Det. Sgt. Anthony Coscarella of the Financial Crimes Unit says even though these scammers were targeting seniors, this is an ongoing investigation, and new evidence may turn up.

According to Competition Bureau Canada, Canadians have reported over $100 million lost to scammers in 2018. From January 2014 to December 2017, Canadians aged 60 to 79 lost about $94 million to various scams.

The agency notes that millennials are still potential prey to online scams. Even though the generation is known for being tech-savvy, they are still a large share of the online population.

Police outline the importance of learning how most online scams work and always staying updated to avoid losing money to fraudsters.

“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” says Det. Sgt. Coscarella. He reminds citizens that scammers are present on any social media website, “where you don’t know who’s on the other end.”

According to Police recommendations, all citizens should visit the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre’s website for further information on romance scams and online fraud prevention strategies.