Take extra care when it comes to financial fraud against older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020)

The Research Chair invites older adults, their relatives and all other person in contact with them to be twice as vigilant towards financial fraud committed by phone or on the internet.

Periods of social and health turmoil, such as the one we are currently going through in Quebec are favourable to the apparition and increase of those kinds of fraud.

The Radio-Canada show La facture (only available in French) briefly presents the three most frequent types of “scams” currently in circulation.

1. Text messages from the Red Cross;
2. Emails from the Public Health Agency of Canada;
3. Text messages giving you access to the federal government emergency financial assistance forms.

Be especially wary of messages received through means of communications that are not usually adopted by those large organizations. Keep in mind that the fraudsters are looking to exploit your sense of fear and urgency.

We invite you to consult the official websites of each of those organizations to access factual information. The Ministry of Health and Social Services website is a great place to start.

If you have any doubt about the veracity of a message you have received, it would be preferable to discuss it with a loved one or to do a thorough research on the internet before “replying” or “clicking” on any of the suggested links. In other words, when in doubt, refrain.

To get a broader idea of the frauds going on in Canada, you can consult the following sites:

• Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre
• Autorité des marchés financiers du Québec
• Office for consumers of Quebec
• The Sûreté du Québec
• Service de police de la ville de Montréal
• Réseau FADOQ
• Educaloi
• Protégez-vous