Scam-based escape room seeks to educate Canadians on fraud
The prevalence of scams focusing on Canadians is surging, and is available in varied kinds reminiscent of cellphone calls, textual content messages, and emails.
Recognizing the rising menace, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is taking a brand new strategy to boost consciousness and educate people with the data to keep away from scams, utilizing a singular and interactive escape room.
Patricia Doyle and her husband, Danny Boyle, have been scammed prior to now, an expertise they describe as unsettling. Now, they’re testing themselves within the ‘Be Smart Scam Escape Room’ on the St. Laurent Shopping Centre.
In the center of the mall, inside a particular inexperienced and yellow dice, there are three rooms, the place individuals encounter a collection of challenges simulating real-world rip-off situations amid the distractions of each day life.
Navigating by way of the rooms, individuals should resolve if they’re being duped by criminals who use many alternative misleading techniques.
The interactive expertise takes much less then ten minutes and individuals obtain a rating on the finish, reflecting their potential to uncover fraudulent actions.
“We got 60 per cent, which apparently is not bad,” says Boyle. “I didn’t get it right a couple of times. There were challenges and it was fun too.”
“I know a lot of people who have been scammed,” says Doyle. “Especially when [fraudsters] change the wording around and things like that. This is really helpful.”
Designed by the Canada Revenue Agency, the aim of the escape room is educate Canadians about scams and how you can defend themselves.
“We’re trying to tell people, let’s try to figure out if you can decide what’s an actual message that you should respond to or not. Whether you’re a senior, you’re a newcomer, a youth, results vary so it’s based on your knowledge. What we’re hoping is that people will learn things and be more smart, be more vigilant going forward and not get scammed,” says, Charles Drouin, a CRA spokesperson. “Thousands and thousands of Canadians are getting scammed each year that we’ve seen in the numbers. Less of it last year, but there are more and more scams coming through, so the likelihood that you will fall into one is really there. This is why we’re here today, telling people, okay, it could be an email, could be a text message or something else.”
The surge in reported rip-off incidents in Canada underscores the urgency of proactive measures. According to the CRA, between 2019 and 2023, the reported losses to fraud have skyrocketed, reaching practically half a billion {dollars}. Initiatives just like the Be Smart Scam Escape Room function essential instructional instruments in combating this alarming development.
Later subsequent month, the Be Smart Scam Escape Room will journey to Montreal, adopted by Halifax, the place is will make its method again throughout Canada, by way of the GTA, and to Vancouver.
