Heather Wright/The Independent

A unique program in Lambton is saving seniors from telephone scammers and catching the eye of
banks in Canada.

Lambton OPP Inspec. Chris Avery told Petrolia councillors Monday an anti-fraud program has stopped scammers from pocketing about $160,000 from Lambton residents in the last six months.

Frauds are big business in Canada. Over $638 million was stolen in 2024, Avery says. Those
online and phone scams can have devastating financial and emotional consequences.

“It can be a romance scam for lonely people or older people that may not be tech savvy, that might
be easily confused by someone that is very quick talking,” he said. “I have seen people that I
know that have had a farm that is bought and paid for, being very lonely because the spouse has
passed away, and they got tied up with someone that never met on the internet, and they mortgage
the farm and sent money to these people.”

The Lambton County anti-fraud pilot is relatively simple. Bank tellers are already trained to
spot signs of a scam when their customers come in. But they can’t always stop them. “If I want to
withdraw $30,000 and it’s in my bank account, you can’t stop it,” says Avery. But in Lambton, they
now call a dedicated officer who is a cryptocurrency expert and trained in dealing with scams.

“If they recognize one of those occurrences, they can refer that client to our officer who can meet with them and discuss with them, and just to give them a sense of security, to make sure that the people that they’re dealing with are legitimate.”

Avery is pleased with the success of the program so far noting his officer believes by the end of the year, the OPP will keep about $600,000 from scammers.

The pilot project has caught the eye of the banks. Avery says Bank of Canada investigators have expressed interest in the pilot and the Inspector suspects a version of it may start appearing across the country. “And it all started here in Petrolia.”

A recent study by Equifax says 96 per cent of seniors feel at risk to financial fraud. Over three quarters recognize the need to take personal steps to safeguard their data, but many feel unprepared and nearly two thirds believe banks should implement stronger security protocols.

To report a fraud call the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501