DOUGLAS H. SIMPSON
PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE
CANADIAN COUNCIL OF BETTER BUSINESS BUREAUS
Ottawa, Ontario
Monday, March 2, 2009
Good morning everyone.
Recessions don’t phase fraudsters for a minute. They look at economic crises the way they look at natural disasters – as opportunities to exploit the weak and the desperate. It is no surprise to any of us that are involved in fighting fraud that with the current economic downturn we are witnessing an immediate and disturbing increase in fraud.
Fraud is virtually recession proof. Why? Because it is one of the most diversified of all crimes. If there is a business activity out there, then it is possible to twist it in all sorts of ways to defraud people and other businesses of their hard earned money. Our colleagues at Fraud Squad TV list over 60 different types of fraud in their online library and the number of variations of those frauds is only limited by the imaginations of the criminals committing them.
And Fraud is completely non-discriminatory. It doesn’t matter how smart you are, or how educated you are, or how much money you have, or what business or job you have, or where you live or work, or how old you are, or what your ethnic background is, fraudsters have ways to trick you out of your money. And in doing so they can rob you of your life savings, your self-confidence and your dignity.
And what is worse, the weaker you are, the more vulnerable you are, the more desperate you are the better they like it. If they can catch you off your guard or take advantage of your ignorance then all the better for them.
Lastly, don’t let anyone tell you that fraud is just a property crime. Fraud can kill – you only need to recall the recent tainted milk scandal in China that cost so many babies their lives. That was fraud at its ugliest.
So what’s to be done about it?
The police try their best to catch these low life criminals, but their resources are limited and the investigations and prosecutions can take years and cost hundreds of thousands - even millions of dollars because fraud is often complex and difficult to prove and the fraudster is often located in a jurisdiction thousands of kilometres away. We know the crime has been committed, but getting the evidence to make the charge stick and bringing the criminal to justice is often impossible. And in any event, for the victim and their family the damage is already done.
In the end the only truly effective way to fight fraud is to prevent it in the first place. The best way to prevent it is to help people fraud-proof themselves. To do that they must know what the most common frauds are and they must learn to spot the tell-tale signs of fraud so they can avoid the scams that are not so common – the ones that are liable to come at them from left field.
They have to be educated and they have to look at every so-called “deal” with a healthy dose of scepticism. They have to learn to do their due diligence – especially when the deal looks too good to be true. And they have to learn to curb their enthusiasm for a bargain.
In the end it’s all about education.
That’s why the Better Business Bureau has been a member of the Fraud Prevention Forum and involved in Fraud Prevention Month from the beginning. The Better Business Bureau is honoured to join with over 100 other organizations to help fight fraud by helping to educate Canadians so they can fraud-proof themselves.
The BBB is proud to work with partners like Microsoft and MSN to get the message out to consumers and businesses about the threat of fraud on the internet and we are thrilled to have Iron Mountain join in a number of Shredding events across the country in March to help raise awareness about Identity theft. BBBs across Canada will also hold Scam Jam events during Fraud Prevention Month, providing valuable grass roots opportunities for the BBBs, local police and others to join in educating consumers and businesses on how to protect themselves.
Tomorrow in Toronto, as part of Fraud Prevention Month, the Better Business Bureau and two of its nationally accredited businesses, Fraud Squad TV and Capital One Canada will launch an exciting and innovative initiative in web based TV called Fraudcast.ca. It is the first of its kind in Canada, and to our knowledge across the globe.
It will broadcast weekly online at Fraudcast.ca and will feature interviews with the BBB’s 14 offices across the country, and real victims’ experiences with fraud in our local communities. Fraudcast.ca also has one of the most extensive fraud libraries, and Canadians will have the added option to interact with the BBB and one another by sharing their fraud stories or videos, and by asking questions to fraud experts.
If there is one thing we all recognize it is that fraud is such a huge threat that none of us can fight it alone. Together we can fight it and that is what the Fraud Prevention Forum and Fraud Prevention Month is all about. The Better Business Bureau believes that this is important work and is committed to make it a success. We applaud the Competition Bureau for leading this effort and hope that you and other Canadians across the country will join all of us in the Fraud Prevention Forum to fight fraud together.