LISTEN: Finance expert stresses importance of reporting fraud

It’s Fraud Prevention Month, an important time to highlight scam attempts right here in Saskatchewan.

Recent data from Saskatchewan RCMP shows fraud reports in the province rose 81 per cent between 2014 and 2024, from 1,950 to 3,532, with cases involving losses greater than $5,000 increasing sharply over the same period — rising by 192 per cent.

Read more: 

• Financial fraud cases in Regina up by 12 per cent in 2025: Police
• Scams and digital fraud on the rise in Saskatchewan
• Financial fraud takes $5.3M from northern communities in 4 months: RCMP

Reports involving theft, forgery and misuse of credit cards have surged even more dramatically, increasing by 335 per cent over the decade and underscoring a growing financial threat facing residents.

How do we recognize scams and report suspicious activity? For this conversation, guest host Brent Loucks was joined by Mark Millham, Conexus Chief Risk and Compliance Officer on The Evan Bray Show.

Listen here for the full interview with Millham, or read the transcript below:

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

BRENT LOUCKS: What kind of information do people need to be aware of?

MARK MILLHAM: There’s four key tips. Number one is never share your one-time passwords or multi-factor authentication codes with anybody. That’s just like giving away your PIN to your debit card. People shouldn’t ask you for it, and you shouldn’t give it.

Second is to be really aware, especially during times of change such as the merger that Conexus is going through, fraudsters will use that time to take advantage of confusion or uncertainty.

Third, some frauds aren’t short term, some are very long term. We know about romance scams, investment scams, those types of things, and those two can definitely be connected.

Finally and, most importantly, if anything is suspicious or you’re concerned about fraud happening, report it. Report it to your financial institution. Report it to the police, talk to your family, make sure it gets out there and it’s talked about.

LOUCKS: We hear a lot of talk about the senior scam, the phone call they get from what they believe is a loved one who’s either been arrested or they’re in trouble or they’re in a hospital and they need money.

MILLLHAM: Seniors are targeted but it’s also important to remember that they also target youth, rural or urban. There’s no discrimination from the fraudsters. The youth market tends to have higher volumes of fraud, but maybe less of a monetary impact, where seniors are losing larger amounts of money. We have to all be really super aware.

LOUCKS: I have a story of a friend of mine who has a business in Saskatoon, and he was contacted by an individual who wanted to do business with him. Purchase was arranged, and this individual then sent a Royal Bank of Canada cashier’s check a money order. It looked absolutely legit, but it was a lot more money than what they’d agreed upon.

The sender then reached out to my friend and said, ‘Oh, I sent you too much money. Would you send me the difference back and you keep the original amount you agreed on?’

He was about ready to do it, but as we got looking closer at what we thought was a true RBC bank form on the address, it had the street address of the bank branch in Saskatoon, correct, but it misspelled Saskatoon. It dropped the second ‘s,’ it was Sakatoon.

Right then we went, ‘Oh, this isn’t for real.’ So it’s incredible the resources these people have and what they’re able to produce, too.

MILLHAM: Absolutely. It’s very attuned of you to focus on that type of scam. It can be used in many ways. We see that with scams related to fraudulent job offers, where they’ll send money to buy your initial equipment, and they’ll say, ‘Oh, we sent you too much. We need a little bit back.’ It’s the same type of thing. Different story, but the same type of approach is being used in many different scams.

LOUCKS: I suspect a lot of individuals and a lot of businesses probably aren’t too fussy about telling people what happened to them. Do you see that in your line of work?

MILLHAM: Yeah, absolutely. It’s so unfortunate. A really good resource is Stand Against Scams. It’s an initiative started by many financial institutions in Canada, the government, etc., They estimate that only five to 10 per cent of scams or frauds are ever reported. The numbers are massive and we just don’t even fully understand it. That’s why it’s so important to have things like Fraud Awareness Month.

LOUCKS: You talked about the merger that the credit unions have been going through as of Jan. 1, and you talked about that presenting an opportunity for the bad guys. Can you elaborate on that?

MILLHAM: We merged on Jan. 1 but the integration of systems is taking time, so that will be later in the year. Members may not be fully aware that things haven’t changed yet and should know that they will continue to do their business with the legacy cornerstone, Legacy Connexus and Legacy Synergy, just as they’ve always have.

But it’s an opportunity for fraudsters to reach out to them say, Hey, we are. We have merged. We need your information to do this new thing with how you do your banking. And and it’s an opportunity where people might think, oh, yeah, I know about the merge.

So members should know that nothing will change until we’ve reached out well in advance to let them know exactly what’s going to be changing.

LOUCKS: I’ll see people on social media talking about getting a text from the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) and about how they they owe money, and they should send the CRA some gift cards. Do people really fall for this?

MILLHAM: They do. Nobody legitimate should ever ask you to pay anything with gift cards or crypto currencies. It’s a red flag that it is a fraud.

LOUCKS: What do you give for advice for families with an older relative or someone who’s startingto show signs of dementia?

MILLHAM: The 3 Rs of fraud and how you respond are important.

1. Recognizing the fraud is happening. Sharing with family members and friends the types of fraud that is happening, but also recognizing the signs of fraud. Is someone asking you to do something really urgently?Are they playing into feelings like fear or excitement?

2. Reject it. If someone has reached out to you and there’s any hints at all about it being a fraud, just hang up. Don’t talk to them, don’t respond to emails, don’t respond to texts. If its from a financial institution, call them back on the number on the back of your member card or their website you trust so you know that you’re actually speaking to them, and then ask if it was legitimate.

3. Reporting the fraud. That way we can gather information to prevent further frauds or help stop any further losses for you.

LOUCKS:  In credit unions and banks is there more education being done with frontline staff when the person comes in and says, ‘I need $20,000 out of my savings account?’ Is there more being done to find out why these people are asking for the money?

MILLHAM: There absolutely is, and some people may feel like we’re being a bit intrusive or getting into their private information, but it is around being attuned to understanding what they need the money for.

Fraudsters will train individuals to come in and ask for money and give fake stories or lie about why they’rewithdrawing funds. That’s another red flag. There’s no reason for you to lie. There’s no reason for us not to give you funds that belong to you, but we are asking those questions to help protect you.

LOUCKS: Is it for the good of everybody involved this information is provided?

MILLHAM: Especially with long term scams, people can become quite connected to the fraudster or like in the grandparent scam they think they’re talking to someone that they already trust. There’s times when members will come into the branch, and the fraudster is on the phone to be able to hear what’s happening.

So when we ask those types of questions, we’re watching for signs.

LOUCKS: Are some people just too embarrassed to go report scams?

MILLHAM: People are embarrassed. People don’t think there’s anything they can do to bring the funds back and they’re feeling silly about it. But we need to know. The more we know, the better we can do to help protect.

LOUCKS: If someone is scammed and money goes missing from their bank account,  what kind of a position does that put you in as a financial institution, and what are you’re able to do to remedy it?

MILLHAM: That’s why reporting is so important. Some of those types of transactions, if we know that it happened right away, there’s a possibility we can stop the loss. That does happen frequently.

If it’s something to do with social engineering or giving away your online banking credentials, we can work with you and potentially recall some of the funds, but in the longer term romance investment type scams individuals are voluntarily providing the funds to the fraudster. Then there’s not much we can do except coach them, help them to see signs, so they don’t get defrauded again.