And when they are scammed, most don't want to admit it
Young Canadians have grown up with the narrative that financial scams are likely to involve email phishing or hacks involving weak passwords, but social media is also a major source of risk.
A survey from TD for Fraud Prevention Month found that Canadians aged 18 to 34 are more likely to be targeted on social media by fraudsters compared to older people, with 41% of these young adults saying they have been a target and one third admitting to having fallen for the scam.
However, with 43% of 18-34s saying they would be too embarrassed to tell anyone if they were scammed in this way, the share of those targeted and falling victim is almost certainly higher.
Almost two thirds of respondents are concerned about being scammed, a similar share says they are being targeted more often, and almost all believe fraud attempts will increase over the next year.
The most prevalent scams on social media include those offering jobs that are an ‘easy way to make money’, investment scams including those requiring a quick decision, and cheque scams where victims are asked to pay cheques into their bank account and send the scammer the funds before the cheque has cleared.
"Growing up as a digital native and being more technologically savvy doesn't mean you're immune to the dangers of online scams," said TD fraud expert, Sophia Leung, Senior Vice President, Protect Platform. "As financial fraud schemes become more sophisticated and difficult to detect, falling victim is nothing to be embarrassed about. Instead, it's important to remain hyperaware of potential threats and arm yourself with the knowledge to protect yourself from future fraud attempts."
Business targets
A separate report from payments provider Moneris reveals frauds targeting Canadian businesses.
It found that fraudulent activity in 2023 was up 13% overall, with Saskatchewan and Quebec showing the largest year-over-year increases at 75% and 50% respectively, followed by Atlantic Canada (25%) and BC (19%). Manitoba led the provinces with decreases in fraudulent activity (down 20%) with small decreases for Alberta (7%) and Ontario (2%).
The most prevalent types of fraud were mail order/telephone order (MOTO) fraud, which contributed to 74% of all fraud cases, while 19% involved the refund process (refund on stolen device, employee refund fraud, and abuse of the refund process
