Business·Marketplace
CBC’s Marketplace rounds up the consumer and health news you need from the week.
Consumer and health news you need from the week
Jenny Cowley · CBC News
· Posted: Feb 11, 2024 7:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 12 hours ago
A Malaysian man, whose face is not being revealed to protect his safety, says he was forced to scam Canadians and others online after accepting what he thought was a job at a casino in Cambodia. (CBC)Miss something this week? Don’t panic. CBC’s Marketplace rounds up the consumer and health news you need.
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Human trafficking victim says he was forced to target Canadians in crypto investment scam
The man pictured says he was held captive in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, where he was forced to start conversations with strangers online to convince them to make dubious investments. (CBC)A man who targeted Canadians for cryptocurrency investment scams is speaking out after escaping the Cambodian compound where he was forced to do it.
In an exclusive interview with CBC’s Marketplace, the Malaysian man says he became a victim of human trafficking after he answered a post on a Facebook group advertising a customer service job with a Cambodian casino.
John, whose real name CBC has agreed to withhold to protect his safety, spent four months with others essentially held captive in compounds in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. While there, he was forced to start conversations with strangers online, gain their trust and convince them to make dubious investments.
“If we don’t follow [the rules], we will be beaten or electric-shocked,” he said.
John said it all started when he was laid off from his job at a Cambodian casino during the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 and forced to move back to Thailand, where he was previously based. After four months without work, he became desperate. He was relieved when he saw an online ad for a casino in a different Cambodian city, and that his new employer would fly him there with all expenses paid.
Soon after arriving in Sihanoukville, John was locked into a unit on the fourth floor of a compound and had his passport confiscated. While in Cambodia, he was forced to target Canadians and other English-speaking Westerners in cryptocurrency scams designed to steal their life savings.
“We [were] always at the fourth floor to eat, to work, to sleep, to take a shower,” John said, who warned others to be wary of accepting a job that seems to come too easily.
“Once you get into the scam compound, that might be your life — gone.” Read more.
You can watch the full Marketplace episode, “Bad Romance: Who’s conning Canadians?” anytime on CBC Gem.
Romance scammer reveals how he tricks women after failing to fool Go Public reporter
This Nigerian man reached out to CBC News reporter Erica Johnson on Instagram, claiming to be an enamoured 40-something American oil rig engineer. In truth, he was a 27-year-old romance scammer looking for a big score. (Name withheld/Graphic by Adam Ciolfi)When “Bobby Brown” sent CBC reporter Erica Johnson a direct message on Instagram, she knew right away he wasn’t the real deal. A tall, handsome, 40-something man who said he’d found her social media profile and become enamoured.
“Nice smile,” he wrote. “I’m Bobby Brown from Sacramento, California, USA. Currently living in Scotland working here as an oil drilling engineer.”
Usually, Johnson deletes messages from strangers who reach out on social media claiming to be soldiers, surgeons or, like “Bobby,” oil rig engineers. An uncannily high number claim they are widowed.
Johnson suspected this online Romeo was running one of the most popular cons going — the romance scam.
Romance scams were responsible for some of the highest financial fraud losses in 2023, according to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, costing 945 victims more than $50 million. That means each person lost an average of almost $53,000. And that only reflects the fraud that victims reported to authorities.
Rather than scoff at people who fall prey to romance scams, social psychologist Andre Wang says people should understand what drives that need for connection.
“It’s actually tapping into something that’s quite fundamental about who we are as human beings,” said Wang, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. “This fundamental need to belong.”
After six weeks of messaging back and forth with Bobby, Johnson finally called him out and asked him to come clean about his life as a romance scammer, how he does it and why he says he can’t stop. Read more.
Bank of Canada says housing affordability is about boosting supply, not lowering interest rates
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem speaks during a fireside chat on Tuesday, in Montreal. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press)Canada’s real estate market is notoriously unhinged. Home prices are up more than 35 per cent in just four years. Mortgage interest costs are up 30.9 per cent year over year. And rental prices are continually hitting record highs.
As inflation comes under control, there is a growing chorus calling on the Bank of Canada to cut interest rates, easing at least some of those affordability issues.
But Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says a lower interest rate isn’t the silver bullet people are hoping for.
“Housing affordability is a significant problem in Canada but not one that can be fixed by raising or lowering interest rates,” Macklem said during a speech in Montreal on Tuesday.
Macklem said the real issue is that housing supply has fallen short of housing demand for years.
“There are many reasons why: zoning restrictions, delays and uncertainties in the approval processes and shortages of skilled workers. None of these are things monetary policy can address,” he said in his address to the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations.
Macklem admits the emergency low interest rates during the COVID-19 pandemic helped fuel the run-up in home prices during that time. And the central bank’s own research shows that “shelter inflation” continues to drive inflation. Read more.
What else is going on?CTV fans— your news might look different soon
Bell Media is planning cuts to CTV, BNN Bloomberg, and the sale of 45 radio stations, making it the largest round of job cuts in nearly 30 years.
B.C. is moving flavoured nicotine pouches behind pharmacy counters to protect youth
The pouches, which contain up to four milligrams of nicotine, are marketed as a smoking cessation aid.
The justice minister had his car stolen. Again.
As law enforcement is battling a rising number of auto thefts, the minister’s government-owned car was stolen for the third time in three years.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jenny Cowley is an investigative journalist in Toronto. She has previously reported for CBC in Nova Scotia. You can reach her at marketplace@cbc.ca.
