The world ended for me’: 86-year-old Ontario woman goes public after losing $900K to AI deepfake scam. How to invest safely in the age of AI scammers

“I saw an ad on Facebook of Mark Carney telling me if I invested $350 Canadian, it would be backed by the Bank of Canada,” she said to CTV.

She was soon contacted directly by the scammers, who convinced her over the course of several months to invest more, promising returns of $40,000 per month. Eventually, she cashed in her Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF) for $650,000, mortgaged her condo for $350,000 and got a $35,000 cash advance on her credit card to invest in the bogus scheme.

That’s when the scammers vanished, leaving her with only a few hundred dollars.

“I just really thought it was going to work out and when all the funds were gone, it was like the world ended for me,” Skene told SooToday.

While her story is tragic, it’s not unique. More broadly, it raises questions about where Canadians, especially older ones, should place their trust to make investment decisions in the age of AI scammers.

AI is ‘supercharging’ scams

Financial abuse, both by family and by scammers, is the most common form of elder abuse in Canada. It’s also a growing problem.

According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC), Canadians reported losing a record $704 million to fraudsters in 2025, around half of which ($351 million) was lost through investment fraud. The latest available data, meanwhile, suggests 40% of reported losses come from individuals aged 55 years and older.

Those total losses represent a nearly 300% increase since 2020, much of which is being targeted at older Canadians.

And the rise of AI is “supercharging” these scams, according to Cyber-Seniors, a non-profit organization providing technology training to older adults. AI lets scammers targeting older age groups pull off far more sophisticated schemes, producing deepfakes, emails and websites that are “startlingly authentic.”

“AI is playing a huge role in fraud,” Jeff Horncastle, a spokesperson for the CAFC, told Cyber-Seniors. “I hate to use the word ‘scary,’ but it’s so difficult now to know what’s real and what isn’t.”

Horncastle added that investment schemes are surging in Canada, representing half of all funds lost last year. And like the one targeting Skene, they often start with an AI-generated image or video that features a well-known celebrity or politician endorsing an investment opportunity that’s “too good to be true.”

“Unfortunately, stories like this are becoming increasingly common across Canada,” Horncastle wrote in an email to SooToday.

Slow down — and stick to trusted platforms

But Skene’s story doesn’t have to end as a cautionary tale. It can also bring awareness to the tactics of scammers and ways to avoid falling into their traps.

One common tactic is to pressure victims to act quickly, which reduces the time they have to do research. This makes it easier to trick them with promises of higher-than-normal returns, urgent messages from financial institutions or government agencies, and fake trading apps or websites, especially ones involving cryptocurrency.

In Skene’s case, a bogus investment account showed that her investment had almost doubled, when in reality, the money was already long gone.

That’s why it’s always a good idea to take your time to check the validity of the investment using resources like the National Registration Search Tool, run by the Canadian Securities Administrators, and to stick to trusted banking and trading platforms. That way, you can minimize the chance of downloading malicious apps or compromising your personal information, while also taking advantage of the extensive features offered by the bigger platforms.

For example, Canadian investors can look to a tried-and-true online platform like CIBC Investor’s Edge, which gives them the security — and features — of one of Canada’s biggest banks without having to pay exorbitant commissions or fees.

In fact, with their comprehensive online trading platform, it actually pays to trade more. Active traders making over 150 trades a quarter can get a discounted commission rate of $4.95 per trade. And CIBC doesn’t charge any account or maintenance fees if the combined market balance of all accounts is greater than $10,000. Plus, you can receive real-time news and stock alerts, helping you keep track of market shifts.

Want to know more? Here’s a comprehensive review of the CIBC Investor’s Edge platform and its features.

Get some help

Another lesson to be learned from Skene’s story is the value of reaching out for advice before making any big financial moves — something that scammers will try to deter.

According her longtime friend, Pat Probert, that’s exactly what they tried to do, instructing Skene not to tell her friends because “‘you’re making so much money that your friends will be mad at you.’” It was only after she realized she was being scammed that she turned to Probert, who jumped into action by contacting two financial institutions she dealt with and the local police, who are still investigating.

“I was shocked. It’s beyond sickening,” he said.

If anything, these events underscore the importance of seeking out sound financial advice, preferably from professional advisors. But they can also be costly — and aren’t always available when you need them.

For those who want investment opportunities at a moment’s notice, AI-powered stock-picking services are another option, but many Canadians are still wary of using them for financial advice.

However, if you’re looking for the best of both worlds — the accessibility and immediacy of an AI-powered platform mixed with the human touch — you may want to consider stock-picking services like Moby, which offers investors data-driven insights from AI alongside expert analysis from financial professionals.