Have you ever been tempted to click on a link saying you owe or have received money? Or gotten a call or email from someone claiming to be from the tax department?
These are just some of the scams you should watch out for as Fraud Prevention Month begins.
The Better Business Bureau's National Top Ten Scams of last year included income tax scams, shady contractors, wire fraud and "spearphishing." and employment scams; online purchase fraud was number one totalling over $13M lost and online dating schemes at number three saw more than $19M defrauded.
An Interac poll showed that nearly a quarter of Canadians have clicked on a phishing link -something pretending to be something legitimate such as your bank.
The poll also showed that 64 per cent of those surveyed said they were tempted by clicking on the link but didn't because they didn't know if it was secure. The survey suggests that Canadians are worried more by phishing and cloning scams than by break and enters, car theft and plane crashes.
"The easy ones to spot is that there would be a lot of spelling mistakes. It could also be the translation isn't right," said Interac spokesperson Rachel Jolicoeur in an interview with CJAD 800 News.
"If you hover with your mouse on the link that they give you, if they pretend to be coming from your bank, most often when you hover over it, you can see that it is not a bank email address."
Jolicoeur said don't click on a link or open a webpage from someone you don't know and even if it looks legit, double check the supposed source first.
If you do click on a fraudulent link and give away personal information, change your passwords and notify your bank right away.