It is understandable to feel ashamed if you’ve been the victim of a financial scam, but the Chief Information Officer for the Financial and Consumer Services Commission of New Brunswick says staying silent only helps the scammers.
Jake van der Laan says New Brunswickers lost $1.4 million to financial scams last year, and that’s likely just the tip of the iceberg.
“I’ve seen some statistics that only 15% of people who get scammed actually end up reporting it, and if that statistic is true then you can imagine that the actual losses relating to these types of schemes is much larger than this particular report suggests,” says van der Laan.
He says it’s a perfectly normal human reaction to not want to share details of being scammed.
“People are reticent to relive the loss, to be embarrassed by someone else finding out that they were, you know, in hindsight, stupid enough to fall for these scams,” says van der Laan. “You know, I can understand that completely.”
However, van der Laan goes on to say, people shouldn’t feel too embarrassed, because many of these schemes are more than just “click on this link” type scams, with scammers employing clever social engineering techniques to manipulate their victims.
“These crooks are very sophisticated about convincing you to trust them, and convincing you to separate you from your money for whatever legitimate purpose they say they’re going to use the money for, which of course in most cases is nefarious, if not all of them,” says van der Laan.
He says by reporting any successful or just attempted scams to the proper authorities, you can help prevent another person from being victimized.
Contact information for who to reach out to if you believe you’ve been contacted by a scammer, or you’ve fallen victim to one is available HERE.
