The caller told her to act immediately to clear her name, and within minutes, she received a call from someone else, who identified himself as a government agent. He quickly looked up the caller online and found an official website (since deleted) with his name and phone number. Over the phone, the scammer pressured her to make two cash withdrawals from her bank account and deposit the money — ostensibly to verify and protect it — at a bitcoin ATM in a downtown store. The caller urged her not to talk to anyone about the transactions because she couldn’t trust them to keep her details safe. “I know it doesn’t make sense, but at the time I was so scared that I could believe anything because, to be honest, I don’t know how things work in this country,” he told CBC News Wednesday. After making the deposits, the caller kept her on the phone for several minutes, assuring her that everything was fine and she would soon receive her money back. Parisa Ghanbari used this ATM on October 20. A sign on the machine warns that the CRA and RCMP do not require bitcoin payment. (Scott Neufeld/CBC) A few hours later, after discussing the incident with her roommate, she realized she had been defrauded of $10,900, which was supposed to be for second semester tuition. Ghanbari recognizes all the red flags in hindsight, and even during interactions, she suspected something was wrong, crying in the store as she scanned QR codes — but she said fear kept her from talking. He was also concerned that the call was related to a series of threatening text messages he had recently received. Although she was familiar with certain types of scams, such as phishing links, she said she had never heard of scammers pretending to be government agents and had never seen a bitcoin ATM.
Scams 101
Ghanbari reported the scam to the police, who said nothing could be done because she deposited the money and the scammers were out of the country. He also mentioned the fraud at Concordia. She said the school told her about possible scholarships, extended her tuition payment and sent a scam warning email to students. She started a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe and fears she may not be able to continue her degree. As an international student unfamiliar with the systems in Canada, Ghanbari said she felt targeted by scammers and said universities should educate students about their tactics. “They should tell the students about it — at least send out an email and tell the students about all the ways they can be scammed,” he said. Navleen Kaur, president of the Concordia Student Association, said she supports adding fraud education to new student orientation programs, but there should also be more frequent reminders via email and social media. “As a student, it’s always hard when things happen out of the blue and you don’t remember those resources they told you about four years ago at orientation,” she said. He said in response to this incident, CSA plans to start warning students more often about scams. Kaur, who is a fourth-year international student, said she received suspicious phone calls herself and learned they were scams after contacting Concordia. She said scams similar to the one Ghanbari experienced, involving fake government agents and threats about immigration status, have also affected her friends. A Concordia spokesperson said the school tells international students to keep personal information confidential and has increased communication about how to protect themselves in various situations. The school says it supports victims with tuition payment plans, budget support and access to free counseling and careers services.
What to watch out for
Fraudulent activity is difficult to detect, but statistics from the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center show it is on the rise. Last year, the center received more than 100,000 fraud reports — a 130 percent increase from the previous year. From January to the end of September this year, more than 43,000 victims lost $362.7 million due to fraud. “We know it’s growing in large numbers,” said Jason Zirkle, director of education at the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners in Austin, Texas. Zirkle said people don’t need to be aware of every type of phone scam or impersonation, but they should be wary of the common elements: urgent requests for money or personal information. “That’s when the red flags have to go off in your mind, so anything we can do to make people aware of these events will help protect these people from being scammed,” he said.
