OTTAWA \u2014 Canada\u2019s financial intelligence agency will report Thursday that extortion is soaring, with a growing number of those crimes committed against Canadians of Indian or south Asian descent by criminal organizations with direct ties to that region.<\/p>\n
In a new report obtained by National Post, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) said extortion cases have increased more than sixfold over the first four months of 2026. The\u00a0agency\u2019s report said it\u00a0has\u00a0already logged more extortion cases so far this year than the previous two years combined,\u00a0part of a dramatic increase in financial crimes in Canada over the last few years.<\/p>\n
The FINTRAC report said the\u00a0centre\u00a0has\u00a0handed off to police\u00a0more than 100 such\u00a0distortion\u00a0cases since the start of the year, with\u00a0the vast majority\u00a0of\u00a0the crimes\u00a0occurring in British Columbia, Alberta,\u00a0Manitoba\u00a0and Ontario.<\/p>\n
Many of the\u00a0communications between the criminals and\u00a0victims\u00a0involve\u00a0threatening phone calls\u00a0or\u00a0encrypted\u00a0social media\u00a0messages\u00a0where the targets\u00a0receive various threats if\u00a0they\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0pay large sums of money. While actual payments are often in\u00a0the hundreds\u00a0or thousands of dollars, some targets are told they must pay\u00a0more than $100,000\u00a0or even\u00a0$1 million.<\/p>\n
The 100\u00a0distortion\u00a0cases involve more than 300 subjects and more than 63,000 financial transactions, usually linked to money laundering and sometimes even terrorist financing.\u00a0Victims are often small and medium-sized business owners in sectors such as retail, transportation, construction, real\u00a0estate\u00a0and hospitality.<\/p>\n
The extortion schemes often involve agents acting as bridges between the criminal organization and the intended victim. The agents\u00a0are\u00a0typically between 17 and 28 years old, carry\u00a0an Indian passport and\u00a0are\u00a0registered as foreign students at a\u00a0community college.<\/p>\n
Once a payment has been extorted, the agent will often make deposits at multiple financial institutions\u00a0or money services businesses and then send money to people or companies in India, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, or\u00a0perhaps Kenya\u00a0or Portugal.<\/p>\n
FINTRAC says that\u00a0its analysis shows that multiple crime organizations\u00a0appear to be\u00a0involved in this\u00a0extortion\u00a0wave, including\u00a0two well-known\u00a0rival\u00a0gangs,\u00a0the Bishnoi Gang and\u00a0Bambiha\u00a0Gang,\u00a0both\u00a0based in northern India.<\/p>\n
The two organizations,\u00a0each\u00a0of which\u00a0got\u00a0their\u00a0start in the 2010s,\u00a0are best known for such crimes as extortion and contract killings.\u00a0While their reach extends beyond India and Canada, their crimes in this country\u00a0are often targeted at\u00a0Indo-Canadian businesses and individuals.<\/p>\n
FINTRAC says\u00a0domestic\u00a0copycat groups\u00a0are also playing a role, by trying to\u00a0leverage\u00a0the\u00a0fear\u00a0being generated by the crime groups\u00a0and\u00a0sometimes\u00a0falsely\u00a0claiming\u00a0to be part of\u00a0those\u00a0organizations.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy following the money and leveraging the power of financial intelligence,\u201d Sarah Paquet, FINTRAC\u2019s chief executive officer, was quoted as saying in a\u00a0news\u00a0release, \u201cwe can\u00a0effectively target,\u00a0disrupt\u00a0and dismantle the organized criminal networks that profit from this illicit activity and threaten the safety of Canadians.\u201d<\/p>\n
This wave of\u00a0extortion is part of a\u00a0recent spike in financial\u00a0crime, spurred in part by the\u00a0proliferation\u00a0of the digital world, the virtual currency market in particular.\u00a0FINTRAC reported last fall that the organization easily set a\u00a0new record\u00a0in the number of cases that it sent to police for possible criminal investigation.<\/p>\n
The increase was a function of big leaps in\u00a0fraud, cyber ransomware, online child sexual\u00a0exploitation\u00a0and a range of other online crimes that are often\u00a0directly related\u00a0to other financial crimes, such as money laundering and terrorist financing.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre\u00a0has said that\u00a0Canadians were\u00a0scammed\u00a0out of\u00a0$643-million\u00a0in online fraud in 2024, almost three times the figure from just four years earlier.<\/p>\n
The federal government\u00a0has\u00a0said that less than\u00a010 per cent of these types of\u00a0scams\u00a0are reported to authorities.<\/p>\n
Local police forces in larger communities and the federal government have\u00a0taken steps to try to respond to\u00a0the growth of online crimes.\u00a0The Liberal government\u00a0announced\u00a0late last year that it would launch\u00a0a new Financial Crimes Agency, aimed\u00a0at trying to\u00a0improve Canada\u2019s ability to tackle online\u00a0scams,\u00a0money\u00a0laundering\u00a0and other types of fraud.<\/p>\n
The fight against such crimes also got a boost\u00a0earlier this year\u00a0from legislative changes to the Bank Act. The new legislation requires\u00a0banks and other financial institutions to play a larger and more proactive role in detecting and fighting\u00a0various types\u00a0of fraud.<\/p>\n
Many local police forces have also made the prevention of extortion and other financial crimes a priority in recent years,\u00a0allocating\u00a0resources to\u00a0new\u00a0technology\u00a0and hiring specialists.<\/p>\n
National Post<\/p>\n
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