Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list inclu...
This year, Regina Police Service say about $10 million has been lost to financial crimes, including fraud, counterfeit and identity theft incidents, which are up 78 per cent from the same period from the previous year.
Currently, investigators are managing more than 100 active fraud investigations, police said in a statement issued on Nov. 6.
Read more:
- Scams and digital fraud on the rise in Saskatchewan
- Financial fraud takes $5.3M from northern communities in 4 months: RCMP
- Artificial intelligence scams getting harder to detect, says expert
On July 7, police received a report of an internal fraud incident involving a female employee at a local business who had withdrawn significant amounts of money from company accounts, and misappropriated a total of $248,000. On Oct. 16, a 36 year-old woman was charged with theft and fraud.
Investigators are working on dozens of other cases affecting both individuals and businesses in Regina.
One local company involved a former employee who was accessed business funds, obtaining over $200,000 for personal gain. Another business lost more than $290,000 after a former employee issued and cashed unauthorized corporate cheques.
“RPS investigators also uncovered suspected money laundering activity connected to a local automotive business, where proceeds from drug trafficking were believed to have been moved through vehicle sales,” said police in a statement.
Police said in one case, “a resident discovered his bank account had been compromised after identification was stolen from his vehicle, resulting in several months of unauthorized transactions that went without notice,” said police.
Another investigation involved a suspect using fake ID to cash counterfeit cheques at different business locations.
Police noted Regina residents are still, nearly daily, falling victim to online and telephone scams or reporting the suspicious activity.
The Regina Police Service reminds the public and business community to be wary against fraud attempts and to protect their financial information:
- Make sure the requests for payment or personal information is from a legitimate business or individual.
- Regularly check accounts for unauthorized transactions.
- Immediately report suspected fraud to police or the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre collects information on fraud and identity theft and provides information on past and current scams affecting Canadians. As of June 30, 2025 it had recorded 17,094 fraud victims across the country with reported losses of $342 million.
Fraud reports can be made online here.
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