OPP launch 'Project Atlas' to curb crypto scams

With the rise of cryptocurrency investment scams, the OPP have launched ‘Project Atlas’ this week, an initiative to clamp down on investment fraud.

The OPP hosted a live stream Thursday morning to discuss how ‘Project Atlas’ is helping victims of crypto scams and educating the public on investment fraud.

“The project focuses on different parts of it,” said Detective Sergeant Lynn Danis, a lead investigator for the OPP’s Cyber-Enabled Fraud Team. “Disrupting the fraud, supporting victims, and there’s never a promise of recovering funds, but that is one of our goals.”

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According to the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre (CAFC), Canadians reported more than $300 million lost to investment frauds last year.

“Of that, the majority was crypto investment frauds, so that’s what leads us here today,” said Detective Constable John Armit from the OPP’s Anti-Rackets Branch.

On the OPP website, ‘Project Atlas’ further outlines how crypto scams happen and how potential victims can protect themselves.

Det. Const. Armit told CTV News that victims get tricked into transferring funds into the crypto wallets of scammers by promoting investment opportunities that appear to be legitimate.

“The scammers tell them how much their investment has jumped, and they encourage them to put more money in,” stated Det. Const. Armit. “And the criminals will say there’s a crypto tax, they’ll get [the victims] to pay their crypto tax and then they’ll just ghost them.”

‘Project Atlas’ also warns of scammers who use approval phishing, where bad actors pose as trusted sources and attempt to trick victims into approving fake requests or fraudulent links.

“Never click on links provided to you in an unsolicited email, text message or on social media websites,” urged Brooklyn Harker, a spokesperson for OPP Central Region. “These are opportunities that can be used by offenders to steal your information.”

Through Project Atlas, Ontario Provincial Police say they will release more information over then next five weeks on how many victims were identified, how much financial loss was recovered, and how many bad actors were disrupted.

Victims of fraud are encouraged to contact local police and to submit an online report to the CAFC.