Every year, thousands of Canadians fall victim to investment scams, losing hundreds of millions of dollars.“It’s really rampant,” said Armin Zamani, who is a self-declared tech nerd and uses his skills on his own time to put a dent in the problem.It starts as soon as he gets a suspicious email or text message, promising big returns on cryptocurrency or other investments.“I, like so many others, get these all the time. They try targeting individuals that aren’t able to protect themselves; people who are vulnerable.”The 29-year-old gets an itch every time he’s on the receiving end of these messages.“I start to investigate the people behind it, it’s fun. It gives me the chance to help prevent others from becoming victims.”Last month, he received an email from a so-called cryptocurrency investment platform called Revivo Capitol. He ignored it and then received a phone call a few minutes later.“They’re basically saying, ‘Hey, we know your name, Armin, and this is your phone number, and you have an account with us.’ This is a company I’ve never heard of before.”He began investigating and discovered it was flagged as being a fraudulent organization reported by Canadian regulators including the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO), Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), and the New Brunswick Financial and Consumer Services Commission (FCNB).All of those agencies and organizations had sent out multiple alerts warning investors to stay away. But they were still operating online under various websites.“Basically, they need to pay a company to provide them web service, which is to put their email out there or their website out there.”Armani says what he did next, took time, around 15 hours he estimates, but something anyone concerned about fraudulent companies can do on their own.There are several free web services that allow anyone to look up the owners of certain websites.“Using this service, I searched up Revivo Capitol and found there are many different domains that they had, and I found the companies that host their websites and contacted them all.”He supplied those companies with the public alerts, and each one responded.“They took them all down.” But Armani, who stayed on top of his work, noticed days later the company kept popping back up online.“Then I did the same thing, and I found their new service provider and shut them down again.”Much to the angst of the people behind Revivo. Armani said he received a call after making all his reports.“They were swearing at me. I am fairly certain they knew I was behind this, and they weren’t happy,” he said. “I think it’s the fact that I had taken down three of their websites already.”His desire to serve the public extends beyond his office in his parents East York home. When he’s not tracking down cyber fraudsters on his down time, Armani is also an active service member with the Canadian Armed Forces.“I believe in serving this country because my parents came here with nothing and built a beautiful life, so I like to give back.”He does not know whether his work, in this case, prevented someone from losing funds.If you have an issue, story or question you’d like us to look into, contact us.