July 15th 2025
Fraud! It seems to be more prevalent every day. Bank fraud. Identity theft. Social media scams. Mortgage Fraud. Schemes to take your money for goods and/or services that will never appear or be performed. As a result, defense mechanisms are springing up that make our life more complicated but at the same time more secure.
You go to do business at a bank, even your own bank, and the chances are you’ll have to provide photo I.D. Open up your computer, which by the way is now generally password protected and the chances are before you can begin any business, you’ll have to provide a user name and password. And in more and more cases wait to have a security code sent to you in order to gain access.
I get it. It seems like the bad guys are everywhere, and they are coming up with more sophisticated and elaborate schemes to take what is yours. They may be across the globe. They may be across the street. Chances are it’s both.
Of course there are various degrees of perpetrated crime. And while all crime has its victims, some crimes are much more devastating in their impact than others. One of these levels of crime that has our government very concerned, and rightly so, is money laundering the proceeds of crime and financing terrorism. And in an attempt to combat, catch and shut down these endeavors, our government and governments around the globe are more and more turning to the access points of activity to serve as an early warning system.
FINTRAC - Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, the federal agency that ensures compliance with the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act. The fact is that both in Money Laundering and in Terrorist Financing, the government bureaucrats are somewhat removed from where the transactions are happening. They need “boots on the ground” and as such they have approached and “deputized” the key sectors of the economy that may be participants, unwittingly or otherwise. That’s entities such as lawyers, banks and lending institutions and of course real estate businesses.
And in order for us, real estate agents, to do an effective job of discovering when our services are being tapped for illegal activity, we need to be trained on what to look for, how to spot possible crimes in progress and what to do about it.
Here at RE/MAX Garden City Realty Inc. we take these responsibilities very seriously. But with a sales force of over 100 Agents, the challenge is to get the message, the method and the training out to each of those people on the front lines who interact directly with the buying and selling public.
That is where our Corporate Administrator enters the picture as our FINTRAC Compliance Officer. FINTRAC program compliance entails several different aspects with the major focus being ongoing agent training. Over the years we have provided education and training to our agents via videos, power point presentations, newsletters, education modules, and one-on-one coaching. Auditing transactions occur routinely with agent specific follow-up where necessary. Mandatory annual reports such as risk assessment, program effectiveness, and regime reviews are completed as part of the compliance process. Every agent receives a Resource / Policy and Procedure binder as part of their onboarding with RE/MAX Garden City Realty Inc.
RE/MAX takes its responsibility seriously and recognizes that to remain compliant and diligent with FINTRAC it is an ongoing process and most definitely a team effort.