Calls for service may be dropping in some Canadian cities and major crime is falling in Toronto — but police across the country are busy battling on a new frontier of lawbreaking: COVID-19 crime.

As businesses have closed and Torontonians have holed up inside, early trends show the shifting nature of crime in a pandemic: since March 16, calls for non-emergency service have sunk and reports of assaults, break-and-enters, robberies and car thefts have all dropped, police said Monday.

And yet amid global efforts to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, police have been busily slapping charges on those finding novel ways to profit, scam a few days off work or flout public safety regulations.

In Newfoundland, police arrested the same woman twice in three days last week for failing to self-isolate after she’d been out of province. In Hamilton Friday, cops charged a woman with fraud and mischief after she allegedly faked a doctor’s note claiming she had COVID-19 — prompting the unnecessary closure of a McDonald’s restaurant.

On Monday, officers in Peel brought the hammer down on a 39-year-old man whose allegedly false claim of having a family member with COVID-19 resulted in a Brampton business shuttering its doors — and a public mischief charge against the employee.

“We want to deter people from taking advantage of the situation for a few days off of work,” said Const. Kyle Villers, saying in general, police are “as busy as we normally are.”

“The situations themselves just seem to be changing.”

Meanwhile, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre is taking in a higher-than-normal volume of reports, despite its hotline temporarily shutting down due to reduced staffing. Since March 6, the centre has received 111 reports from across the country about COVID-19-related fraud.

Reports range from fake public health accounts phishing for personal information, to scam artists hawking bogus coronavirus tests, to purchased gloves and face masks that never materialize.

The centre has also received complaints of companies offering duct cleaning or home decontamination services to protect from COVID-19, scammers misrepresenting themselves as well-known charities and soliciting donations, and financial advisers pressuring people to invest in stocks related to COVID-19.

“The potential for scams here is, I don’t want to say endless, but I’ve been here for 20 years and fraudsters certainly know no bounds,” said Jeff Thomson, senior RCMP fraud analyst. “Fraudsters are quick to adapt.”

In an environment where fear and anxiety is rampant, Canadians are especially vulnerable, Thomson said — “people aren’t necessarily thinking straight.”

“It used to be that seniors were the ones that were taken advantage of,” said Det.-Sgt. Ted Schendera of the OPP’s Health Fraud Investigation Unit.

“But it’s anybody now, especially in this environment that we’re in.”

Last week, police charged a Toronto man for allegedly shipping packages of prohibited COVID-19 test kits across Canada and the United States — an alleged crime uncovered through a joint investigation between Toronto’s financial crimes unit and the United States Department of Homeland Security.

The probe began after a parcel containing 25 kits claiming to be COVID-19 tests was intercepted at the Canada-U.S. border. The accused was allegedly selling the kits for $10, as well as masks for $20.

“At the end of the day there are no authorized test kits” in Canada, said Thomson. “That’s just a bogus claim altogether.”

Both Thomson and Schendera stress that Canadians should be extra vigilant to avoid becoming victims of COVID-19 fraud. Recognize that scammers are using every means possible: email, texting, social media and phone calls, they said, so people should stop and scrutinize all means of communication before providing any information or clicking on any links. Thomson urges people to continue reporting suspicious or fraudulent activity to police or to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

While new types of criminal activity may be emerging, Toronto police said Monday that they have recorded a decline in nearly all major crime categories except homicides since March 16. That includes assaults, robbery, auto theft and break-and-enters, said Toronto police spokesperson Meaghan Gray.

While she stressed that it’s “far too early” to make any determination about crime trends, the decline “could be attributed to social distancing and self-isolation since most of these crimes are against people,” Gray said in an email Monday.

“The important thing to remember is that crime statistics fluctuate over time and for a variety of different reasons. Toronto police officers continue to respond to calls and protect our city,” she said.

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There has also been a decrease in the number of calls to Toronto police’s non-emergency number. There may be various reasons for this decline, “including fewer people in a single place calling about one incident and a reduction in parking complaints,” Gray said.

According to Toronto police statistics updated Monday, 16 people have died by homicide in the city this year — the exact same year-to-date number as 2019, and slightly above the recorded 14 homicides by this time in 2017 and 2018.

The number of shootings injuring or killing people in the city this year also appears to be slightly above average: police statistics show 11 people have been killed and 36 people injured in shootings to far this year, slightly up from 2019’s year-to-date figures showing 10 people killed and 35 others injured, and 2018’s 10 people killed and 29 injured.