Securities fraud is on the rise in Canada according to a new report on organized crime.

Senior law enforcement officials from Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC) gathered in Edmonton Friday to present the 2010 Report on Organized Crime, which has securities fraud as this year’s feature focus.

CISC members include police agencies from the federal, provincial, regional and municipal levels as well as various law enforcement, intelligence and regulatory agencies.

Citing figures from the Canadian Securities Administrators, the report states “Canadians are now more likely to report having been approached with fraudulent attempts: 26% say that they reported the attempt in 2009 (compared to 17% in 2007 and 14% in 2006).”

“Criminal groups are constantly adapting to exploit new opportunities for illicit profit and take advantage of communication and transportation technologies that increase the scope and range of their unlawful activities,” says William Elliott, CISC National Executive Committee Chair and RCMP Commissioner.

“The objective of many criminal groups involved in high-yield, low risk investment schemes is to take every reasonable measure to appear legitimate and to offer attractive prospects. Once this is accomplished, there is the potential for the savings of many Canadians to be irreversibly compromised,” says Chief Mike Boyd of Edmonton Police Service and member of CISC’s National Executive Committee.

“Market manipulation and investment schemes require specialized skills and knowledge of the financial environment,” he adds and referred to the varied Ponzi scheme cases in Canada that are cited in the 2010 report.

IE