The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) says criminals are using their name as part of various scams to try and defraud people out of their money.
Officials say they are seeing an increase in reports of fraudsters impersonating the CAFC and contacting victims of fraud by phone, email or through social media and claiming to be working with them as part of an ongoing investigation.
“Fraudsters may claim to be a fraud investigator from your bank, a major credit card provider or another well-known business,” CAFC officials say. “They may tell you there are unauthorized transactions on your account or that your banking information has been compromised.”
Officials say the fraudsters pretend to represent the CAFC, law enforcement or another government agency and may send fake documents, such as letters or emails, using the CAFC’s logo while requesting that victims provide them with…
PAYROLL & HR CONTROLS (PREVENTING “GHOST” SCHEMES)
Payroll fraud is often the hardest to detect because it “looks” like a normal business expense.
- Segregation of Duties (SoD): The person who adds new employees to the system must not be the same person who approves the monthly pay run.
- Mandatory Vacation Policy: Require all financial and HR staff to take 5–10 consecutive days of leave annually. Fraud often surfaces when the perpetrator isn’t there to “hide” the trail.
- Ghost Employee Audit: Perform a quarterly “Headcount Reconciliation” where managers must physically verify every name on their payroll list exists.
- Self-Pay Blocking: Ensure the payroll software has a hard-coded block preventing administrators from editing their own salary or bank details.