In fast-growing Alberta, job seekers have lost millions to employment scams since 2022

Ellyse Swayze got the job — and it cost her $700.

The 39-year-old Edmonton woman  was laid off from her job at a call centre in April 2021.

In October of that year, she found a job posting on Facebook Marketplace for a virtual personal assistant. Within about 24 hours, she had messaged the recruiter, gone through a virtual job interview on Telegram — a messaging app and social media platform — and was hired, starting the next morning.

Swayze's first task at her new job was to draft emails to clients of the business that had hired her. Next, she deposited a $700 cheque to her bank account, to cover the purchase of seven $100 Amazon gift cards, intended as compensation for some clients.

Clerks at the drug store were apprehensive about selling her the gift cards because of the fraud risk. But Swayze, eager to make a good impression on her new employer, assured them it was OK.

She returned home with the cards, scratched them to reveal their confirmation codes, and sent photos of them to her employer. That meant her employers now had access to the cards.

"Sometimes I still shake my head at it. I wish I wasn't so naive," Swayze told CBC News. "But when you're in a distressed situation like that, looking for work, I guess you just tend to not look at the broader side of things."

Swayze was then directed to buy more gift cards, this time receiving a $1,000 cheque from the employer. Recognizing her bank might hold those funds, she visited a branch to withdraw the cash. But the teller spotted red flags and recommended that Swayze call her employer immediately.

Dread set in after she explained the situation to her boss, who suggested she try another bank, Swayze said.

When she learned the cheques she received were counterfeit, she filed a report to the Edmonton Police Service, as the bank teller suggested.

"I am grateful that it was only $700, but at the time, I didn't have $700 to lose," she said.

The money Albertans are losing to employment or job fraud schemes, which prey on people looking for work, is rising rapidly, despite a small increase in the number of reported victims, according to data obtained from the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, the national police agency that gathers information about fraud and identity theft.

Investment scams remain by far the highest-grossing scheme in Alberta, but job schemes climbed to No. 2 last year, data shows.

In 2024, fraudsters reportedly took roughly $4.8 million from about 190 victims in Alberta. The money lost is up more than tenfold from 2022, when $440,000 was taken from almost 160 people, data shows.