Oct 22, 2026
If you’ve scrolled through X lately, you may have seen former New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jagmeet Singh in handcuffs, posing for a mugshot or handing off a suspicious duffel bag. None of it happened. The images are artificial intelligence (AI)-generated ads, and they’re circulating so heavily that some X users end up seeing four versions of these fake-news posts in less than 30 seconds.
But the real danger isn’t falling for a fake scandal — it’s the hook. Click through, and the trail leads to an “AI-powered” trading platform built to separate Canadians from their savings.
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And the first deposit is rarely the last. Knowing how the trap works, from the first click to the follow-up “recovery” call, is the best protection for your investment portfolio and retirement savings.
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What happens when you click a fake Jagmeet Singh arrest ad?
Most of the fake scandal ads will direct users to a counterfeit CBC News article claiming that Jagmeet Singh was arrested after promoting an investment platform called Groman Pro, according to an Oct. 20 report by NOW Toronto.
The fraudulent article promises monthly earnings of $1,200 to $2,800 in exchange for a small initial deposit, typically $350 or less. To create a sense of urgency, it claims that 47,000 Canadians signed up in the last five hours. The article then directs readers to register before a supposed deadline to secure the offer.
Other versions of the scam bypass the fake news article altogether, sending users directly to a chatbot posing as a Groman Pro representative.
Cybersecurity company Gridinsoft flagged Groman Pro as a financial scam, noting that its website domain was only 12 days old at the time of its review. The company warns that scams like these make it easy to deposit money but difficult to withdraw it. Victims may be asked to pay unexpected “verification” fees or “taxes” before they can access their supposed earnings.
AI educator Vaseem Baig summed up the deceptive tactic, calling the ads “fraud dressed up as political news.”
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Why are Canadians’ savings the real target?
These scams are anything but random. A 2025 investigation by Radio-Canada’s Enquête and international media partners examined nearly two terabytes of leaked call-centre records, exposing an international fraud network that targeted more Canadians than residents of any other country. More than 8,000 Canadians were identified as victims.
The investigation revealed a sophisticated operation. Advertising teams create fake news articles and purchase ads on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and X. When someone signs up, their contact information is sold to scam call centres. The advertising teams then earn a commission for every Canadian who makes an initial deposit.
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Canada is a particularly attractive market for these fraudsters. Benoît Dupont, a University of Montreal criminologist and Canada Research Chair in Cybersecurity, told CBC that Canadians’ self-directed retirement savings, including RRSPs and TFSAs, make them appealing targets.
The financial damage is staggering. According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC), Canadians reported $351 million in investment fraud losses in 2025 — more than for any other category of fraud.
And that’s likely just a fraction of the actual losses. With only an estimated 5% to 10% of fraud incidents reported to authorities, the true financial toll could be substantially higher.
How does one small deposit spiral into a life-changing loss?
Losses can be significant for this kind of scam and once someone submits their name and phone number, the scam moves quickly.
According to CBC, victims often receive a call within minutes. The caller helps them set up an account on a fraudulent investment platform, where manipulated account balances show impressive returns. Those fake gains encourage victims to invest even more money.
The real trouble begins when they try to withdraw their funds.
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Marcel Deschamps, a factory foreman from Alexandria, Ontario, lost $200,000 after clicking on a fake news article featuring Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary. Each time he tried to withdraw his money, the scammers demanded another fee. “You never get it back,” he told CBC.
But the fraud didn’t end there. Deschamps was approached by a supposed cryptocurrency expert who offered to recover his lost money — provided he paid another $3,500 upfront.
It’s a second layer of the same scam. The leaked records revealed that the call centres also operate recovery teams that target previous victims, sometimes impersonating officials from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) or the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC).
In other words, the same fraudsters who steal the money may return pretending to help victims get it back.
Why are the ads still running?
X didn’t respond to Money.ca’s request to comment, or to NOW Toronto’s request for comment — and X users report flagging the ads without visible results.
Conservative Member of Parliament Melissa Lantsman is pushing Bill C-288, the proposed Protection Against Online Fraud Act. It would require platforms to prevent and remove fraudulent content and to notify targeted users. Lantsman expects the House of Commons to hear the bill in spring 2027. Until then, the onus is on you.
See a suspicious post? What you should do
- Treat any “news” story about a politician or celebrity that ends in an investment pitch as a scam
- Check the web address, not the logo, since logos are easy to copy
- Look up any platform or adviser on the Canadian Securities Administrators’ National Registration Search before sending money
- Never let a stranger remotely access your computer
- If you’ve already paid, stop sending money, call your bank, and report it to local police and the CAFC at 1-888-495-8501
- Ignore anyone who offers to recover lost funds for a fee, even if they claim to be from the CRA or FCAC
“Always check the registration status of an entity at ‘aretheyregistered.ca’ before you invest,” explained Dean Murrison, executive director of the securities division at the Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan (FCAA), the province’s financial regulator, put it plainly in a July investor alert. It takes a minute and could end up protecting your savings.
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Romana King, Senior Editor at Money.ca, also writes for various North American publications and the RKHomeowner blog. Her book, House Poor No More, is an Amazon bestseller and five-time award winner, including the 2022 New York CPA Society's Excellence in Financial Journalism (EFJ) Book Award.
