Financial fraud takes $5.3M from northern communities in 4 months: RCMP

The RCMP are warning the public of financial fraud in northern Saskatchewan.

Saskatchewan RCMP have investigated 57 reports between December 1st, 2024 and March 21, 2025, where victims reported roughly $5.3 million in losses.

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“The public needs to stay alert to fraud no matter where they are in the province. It’s important to keep an eye out because scams can happen anywhere and to anyone – scammers do not discriminate,” says Cst. Christian Stroet, an officer with the Prince Albert General Investigation Section. “We all need to listen to that little voice that tells you to walk away when something doesn’t feel right.”

RCMP said the scammers are making contact by:

Phone
Email
Social media

Making claims about investment opportunities or they can return past investment scam monies to victims.

RCMP caution these warning signs:

Investment opportunities with higher-than-normal returns
Unsolicited telephone, email or social media investment offers
Pressure to send money quickly/urgently
Suspicious messages from a trusted source, like a “bank” or “family member”
Cryptocurrency investments that are not registered with provincial or national securities regulators
Contact pages that include an illegitimate address

Prince Albert General Investigation Section said the following were the most common frauds during the four-month period mentioned above.

Grandparent scams: a scammer pretends to be a grandchild or close relative of the victim and states that they are in a crisis situation, asking for immediate financial assistance.
Investment fraud: a scammer lures the victim using investment opportunities by creating links on various social media advertisements to steal investments. These scammers often use popular, recognizable names of celebrities or people well known to the public, but will require funding outside the traditional banking system, such as cryptocurrency.
Payment scam: a scammer poses as a legitimate company or government agency, telling the victim that an item is being held or an account locked until payment is received. Payment is then demanded through cryptocurrency or a gift card.

The RCMP recommended contacting the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre if you’ve been a victim.

“Financial fraud isn’t a simple scam. It’s complex with many layers so it may appear to be true,” says Cst. Stroet.

One of the files police are investigating involves a social media ad that promised an investment opportunity through cryptocurrency. When the victim tried removing funds from the scammers, “’trading platform,’ a different actor in the scam reached out to the victim claiming to be a “Recovery Agency” and offered to recover the money for a fee. The victim reported nearly $350,000 in fraud loss.”

Another file reported a victim losing $160,000 to a stock market investment fraud where the scammer said they had been hacked and the money was lost.