Ellyse Swayze obtained the job — and it value her $700.

The 39-year-old Edmonton lady  was laid off from her job at a name centre in April 2021.

In October of that yr, she discovered a job posting on Fb Market for a digital private assistant. Inside about 24 hours, she had messaged the recruiter, gone by means of a digital job interview on Telegram — a messaging app and social media platform — and was employed, beginning the subsequent morning.

Swayze’s first job at her new job was to draft emails to purchasers of the enterprise that had employed her. Subsequent, she deposited a $700 cheque to her checking account, to cowl the acquisition of seven $100 Amazon present playing cards, meant as compensation for some purchasers.

Clerks on the drug retailer have been apprehensive about promoting her the present playing cards due to the fraud danger. However Swayze, desperate to make a very good impression on her new employer, assured them it was OK.

She returned house with the playing cards, scratched them to disclose their affirmation codes, and despatched pictures of them to her employer. That meant her employers now had entry to the playing cards.

“Typically I nonetheless shake my head at it. I want I wasn’t so naive,” Swayze advised CBC Information. “However if you’re in a distressed state of affairs like that, in search of work, I suppose you simply are likely to not have a look at the broader facet of issues.”

Swayze was then directed to purchase extra present playing cards, this time receiving a $1,000 cheque from the employer. Recognizing her financial institution would possibly maintain these funds, she visited a department to withdraw the money. However the teller noticed crimson flags and really helpful that Swayze name her employer instantly.

Dread set in after she defined the state of affairs to her boss, who prompt she strive one other financial institution, Swayze mentioned.

When she realized the cheques she obtained have been counterfeit, she filed a report back to the Edmonton Police Service, because the financial institution teller prompt.

“I’m grateful that it was solely $700, however on the time, I did not have $700 to lose,” she mentioned.

The cash Albertans are dropping to employment or job fraud schemes, which prey on folks in search of work, is rising quickly, regardless of a small enhance within the variety of reported victims, in line with information obtained from the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, the nationwide police company that gathers details about fraud and id theft.

Funding scams stay by far the highest-grossing scheme in Alberta, however job schemes climbed to No. 2 final yr, information exhibits.

In 2024, fraudsters reportedly took roughly $4.8 million from about 190 victims in Alberta. The cash misplaced is up greater than tenfold from 2022, when $440,000 was taken from virtually 160 folks, information exhibits.

“The place there’s success, [fraudsters] are going to repeat. They’ll come again,” mentioned Det. Scott Abbott of the Edmonton Police Service monetary crimes part.

Legislation enforcement officers advised CBC Information that job fraudsters took benefit of the COVID-19 pandemic, which pressured many individuals to work remotely, and in addition from monetary know-how — specifically cryptocurrency.

Their current success additionally coincides with huge migration to Alberta, and better unemployment with few job vacancies.

“Fraudsters do take note of circumstances and present occasions, so they are going to tailor approaches to replicate that,” mentioned Cpl. Sean Milne of the Alberta RCMP monetary crime workforce.

Alberta has skilled document inhabitants progress in every of the previous two years. Roughly 4.9 million folks lived within the province in 2024, a rise of just about 380,000 from 2022, Statistics Canada inhabitants estimates recommend.

Most of these newcomers got here from different provinces — significantly B.C. and Ontario — and international locations, StatsCan information exhibits.

Alberta’s annual unemployment fee rose to seven per cent final yr, information exhibits, whereas the job emptiness fee, when adjusted for seasonality, dropped to three.3 per cent in December 2024 — the most recent month obtainable.

“Fraudsters prey on vulnerabilities,” mentioned Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre spokesperson Jeff Horncastle. “If job alternatives are arduous to come back by in a sure area, then there’s an opportunity that fraudsters are going to capitalize.”

Milne mentioned that when the financial system tightens, there tends to be an increase in job fraud in addition to mortgage and grant scams, as a result of fraudsters could catch extra people who find themselves attempting to get earnings.

Abbott, the EPS detective, listed a number of methods scammers use to draw and join with folks — a few of which align with what occurred to Swayze.

They usually put up an advert on-line selling distant work and excessive wages, Abbott mentioned. Then, they attempt to construct a relationship with those that reply — typically interviewing them — and persuade them to pay for issues.

Job scammers have additionally shifted towards utilizing cryptocurrency extra usually, as an alternative of banks, as a result of there’s much less regulation and fewer protections, Milne mentioned.

“Loads of crypto exchanges which are utilized by the scammers aren’t primarily based in Canada. So the quantity of oversight — and even capacity to contact these exchanges — is far more restricted than if we’re coping with a home monetary establishment and foreign money,” Milne mentioned.

“It is a way more helpful medium for the scammers to function in, and it permits them to operate extra successfully, sadly,” he mentioned.

Fraudsters additionally acknowledge that many Canadians is probably not properly educated about monetary know-how, together with cryptocurrency, and that victims could not notice they’re placing funds right into a crypto pockets, Horncastle mentioned.

Police imagine the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre information probably would not present the complete scope of the difficulty, as a result of solely a fraction of victims report the crime.

“Shedding some huge cash, in fact, is traumatic for everyone,” Abbott mentioned, including that victims might also really feel embarrassed. 

“We prefer to suppose that, as people, we would not fall sufferer — ‘I am good sufficient.’ However that is not the case; [fraudsters] are superb at their craft, though it is illicit.”

Abbott and Milne encourage individuals who have been defrauded to report back to police or the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, which companions with the RCMP, Ontario Provincial Police and Competitors Bureau of Canada.

Milne additionally mentioned anybody who thinks they’re encountering a rip-off — earlier than they’ve been victimized — can name their native police service’s non-emergency line to ask for recommendation.

Swayze, who’s now the bakery supervisor of Fuzion Donuts, a neighborhood chain in Edmonton, has not been capable of get her $700 again — and he or she’s upset that individuals are attempting to make the most of people who find themselves already in dire straits, she mentioned.

Since her expertise, she has grown extra skeptical, doing extra analysis about issues she sees on-line. She urges others to do the identical.