{"id":552897,"date":"2026-03-22T08:48:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T08:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/552897\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T08:48:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T08:48:16","slug":"top-3-scams-to-watch-out-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/552897\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 3 scams to watch out for"},"content":{"rendered":"

We explore how to identify fraudulent online purchases, recognize dangerous job scams, and protect yourself from deceptive phishing tactics. <\/p>\n

March is Fraud Prevention Month, and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) is working to ensure people have the tools to avoid falling victim.<\/p>\n

BBB regional director Vikta Paulo told CTV Your Morning Ottawa that the most common scams they\u2019ve seen are purchasing scams, employment scams, and phishing scams.<\/p>\n

Purchasing scams<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing you have to double-check is the source of who it\u2019s coming from,\u201d said Paulo.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re looking for it online, a lot of times you are being prompted different advertisement things, be it on Facebook or Instagram, that say, \u2018Get this item, one-day delivery,\u2019 and somehow, it\u2019s half the price.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says red flags include requests for payment in cryptocurrency or by e-transfer, and not being able to obtain a receipt or return the item if something is wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to make sure there\u2019s a secure connection for the purchase,\u201d Paulo said.<\/p>\n

Employment scams<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s unemployment rate rose to 6.7 per cent<\/a> in February, with youth unemployment at more than 14 per cent. <\/p>\n

With a lot of people looking for work, Paulo says to watch out for job advertisements that seem too good to be true.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of these ads will offer you a huge amount of pay for not a lot of work, and who wouldn\u2019t want that, right? But now, a lot of people on average, when it comes to dollar amounts they\u2019re losing, is around $1,500,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The lost money often comes in forms of up-front costs the scammers say is for training or other things, which is a red flag to watch out for. Paulo also noted that job applications often include very sensitive information.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times, when you do apply for work, you give your first name, last name, social insurance number, banking information. These are things they take from you, just to find out there\u2019s no job at the end of the day,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Phishing scams<\/p>\n

Phishing is the process of obtaining sensitive information through fraudulent means, often by way of links pretending to be for legitimate businesses, such as banks. <\/p>\n

Paulo says, with AI making these types of scams look more professional and harder to spot, everyone needs to be careful.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing about banks which you should always know is that they will rarely ever call you or send you text messages to end up having to divulge your personal information,\u201d he said. \u201cAlways call your bank if you do receive a suspicious phone call or you do see these kind of links. As a rule of thumb, never click a link from a source you\u2019ve never seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BBB has a scam tracker<\/a> on its website that allows you to search for reported scams and find resources to help you better avoid falling victim. <\/p>\n

Paulo says if you see something suspicious, report it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re only as good as the information that we receive. It\u2019s very important that you do utilize these services. The more we know, the more we can let our audience know, and the safer we can protect ourselves.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We explore how to identify fraudulent online purchases, recognize dangerous job scams, and protect yourself from deceptive phishing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[712,45,49,48],"class_list":["post-552897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-apple-news","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}