B.C. regulators launch anti-fraud campaign

The BCSC has launched the second year of its three-year “Be Fraud Aware” campaign, designed to educate Canadians about the dangers of investment fraud.

The campaign uses two commercials, three YouTube videos, and a mobile application to alert people to the different warning signs.

“We want people to fraud-proof themselves. We also want them to report investment fraud when they encounter or suspect it,” says Brenda Leong, BCSC Chair.

The two commercials feature a suave fraudster who cons people out of their money. The first, called Stolen Dreams, shows how victims are often taken advantage of by people they trust. Other times, friends who’ve also been duped introduce them to scammers.

“We want people to see just how charismatic and charming these people can be when they are pitching an investment. We modeled him on descriptions of high profile convicted fraudsters like Ian Thow, Bernie Madoff and Earl Jones,” says Leong.

Three additional videos provide more insight into how con artists and schemes actually work, and aim at showing how reporting can make a difference.

See the rest of the videos.

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.