This blog is the third in our four-week series about financial elder abuse.  This week we are focusing on actions that seniors should consider taking as soon as they realize that they have been the victim of a fraud or scam. 

Here are some examples of ways people might realize they have been the victim of a fraud or scam.

•     You see charges on credit cards or withdrawals from your bank account you did not make 
•     You give personal information to someone and then realize the call/email/text message was likely a scam and you should not have provided the information
•     You pay for something on the Internet and do not get the item or service you paid for

There are ten actions seniors should consider if they think they have been the victim of a fraud or scam.  You might not need to take all of these actions depending on the situation.  You should talk with police, a lawyer, or staff at your bank to figure out which of the actions below you should take if you have been the victim of a fraud or scam. 

1. Gather all the information together about the situation and give it to the police, such as dates and times you spoke to the people involved in the fraud/scam and contact information for those people.  Call the police with this information as soon as possible to increase the chances that the police will be able to find the fraudster/scammer.
2. Tell your bank and credit card companies.  Your bank and credit card companies can give you new account numbers and credit cards to protect you from losing more money.  They might also be able to trace where any money taken through your bank account or credit card has gone.
3. Change the passwords to your online accounts, including email and social media accounts, and change the passwords again regularly.  The best passwords are nonsensical phrases that are memorable to you but difficult for others to guess.  For example, ilviccandch is a nonsensical phrase someone is unlikely to guess that uses short forms for words from the sentence “I love ice cream and cheese.”  Fraudsters and scammers are unlikely to guess this nonsensical phrase because it is meaningless to them but you are able to remember it since the phrase has some meaning for you.  If you cannot remember passwords and must write them down, keep the passwords in a secure place that will be hard for others to find them, such as a locked desk drawer in your home.
4. Ask Canada Post if your mail has been redirected.  It is possible for someone to steal your identity by asking Canada Post to forward your mail to a different address so they get your financial information, such as credit card statements.   For this reason, it is very important to confirm that Canada Post has no record that your mail is being redirected and to stop any redirection that has happened right away.
5. Talk to Service Ontario about your personal identification cards.  You might need a new driver’s licence and health card number to stop fraudsters and scammers from using your identification to sign up for loans and other products and services in your name.  Indigenous people should contact Indigenous Services Canada to find out if they will need a new status card to protect them from identity theft.   
6. Contact the two major credit bureaus.  There are two organizations in Canada that track credit information:  Equifax and TransUnion.  These organizations get information from businesses and banks about whether or not you are paying your bills and how much debt you owe.  Equifax and TransUnion use that information to determine your credit score.  Ask Equifax and TransUnion to give you a copy of your credit report so you can see if a fraudster/scammer has signed you up for new debt, such as a bank loan, or new financial products, such as credit cards.  Equifax and TransUnion might help you reverse debts against you if you tell them that you have been the victim of a fraud/scam and you did not sign up for the debt.  Also, ask Equifax and TransUnion to put an alert on your credit report in case future fraud/scam attempts are made under your name.

Equifax:  1-800-465-7166 or www.equifax.ca

TransUnion: 1-800-663-9980 or www.transunion.ca

7. Change your email address, phone number, and social media accounts.  Changing your email address, phone number, and social media accounts and informing the organizations and people with whom you communicate about these changes is a lot of work.  However, closing your email address, phone number, and social media accounts and opening different accounts is a good strategy to stop a fraudster/scammer from using your personal information to sign up for debt and products and services in your name.

8. Get legal advice.  You should talk to a lawyer about the situation to find out if you need to take any other action to protect yourself from future fraud or scams or if there are legal options for you to try to get your money back through the civil courts.  The civil courts deal with all areas of law except criminal law.  If police cannot lay criminal charges about the fraud/scam, it still might be possible for a lawyer to start a lawsuit in civil court to try to get your money back. 

Seniors can get free legal advice from the following organizations.  These organizations will just give advice and will not go to court for you.  The organizations listed below can just tell you if you have a good case to try to get money back through the civil courts and if it is worthwhile for you to explore hiring a lawyer to start a lawsuit.

Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE)
1-855-598-2656
www.advocacycentreelderly.org

Law Society Referral Service (LSRS)
1-800-268-8326
www.lsuc.on.ca

Grey-Bruce Community Legal Clinic
519-370-2200 or 1-877-832-1435
general@gbclc.clcj.ca

9. Tell family and friends about the situation.  If fraudsters and scammers get into your email or social media accounts, they might use your email and social media to try to get money from your family and friends.  Warn your family and friends that you have been the victim of a fraud/scam and that they should be careful about any messages they get from your email or social media accounts. 

10. Report the situation to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC).  The CAFC gathers information about fraud/scams that happen across Canada.  CAFC finds patterns in the information that help police catch fraudsters/scammers.  For this reason, it is very important to report to the CAFC if you have been the victim of a fraud/scam.  If you have been targeted by a fraudster/scammer and have been able to avoid becoming a victim, you should still report the situation to the CAFC because that information might help police find the fraudster/scammer and stop their activities.  The CAFC accepts reports by phone at 1-888-495-8501.  You can also report frauds/scams to the CAFC online at https://www.services.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/chooser-eng.html?ipeReferer=CAFCFRS