Nearly 1 in 3 surveyed Canadians report having
been victimized by financial fraudsters
- Majority of fraud victims (83 per cent) report losing up to
$5,000
- Fifty-nine per cent feel confident in their ability to keep
their finances protected from fraudsters but are less confident in
the ability of their loved ones to do the same
- Forty-one per cent write their passwords down in a notebook or
store them on their phone
TORONTO, March 5, 2019 /CNW/ - Financial fraud continues
to impact Canadians, and as technologies become integrated into
everyday life, fraudsters are targeting Canadians in new ways.
According to a recent TD Fraud survey, nearly one in three
Canadians report having been personally victimized by financial
fraud, with most individuals (83 per cent) losing up to
$5,000.
Financial fraud leaves Canadians feeling concerned, both for
themselves and for their loved ones. Nearly six in 10 (59 per cent)
of survey respondents claim to be confident in their own ability to
keep their finances protected from fraudsters but worry that older
family members lack the same fraud savviness. Despite these
concerns, less than half (45 per cent) of respondents reported
having had a conversation with their older family members about
financial fraud.
"Fraud doesn't discriminate – attacks can happen to
anyone, through any channel, including phone, text and email, at
any time," said Tammy McKinnon, Head
of Financial Crimes and Fraud Management Group, TD Bank Group. "As
scams continue to evolve, it's important that we encourage
conversations that increase Canadians' knowledge and understanding
of financial fraud and help equip our loved ones with the right
information to prevent it from happening."
When asked what concerned them most about financial fraud,
nearly half of seniors (45 per cent) responded that their biggest
worry was becoming a victim of identity theft. In contrast,
millennials shared that having their money stolen was their top
concern (39 per cent).
Though financial fraud attacks are becoming more sophisticated,
the good news is that over two-thirds (69 per cent) of Canadians
are actively taking measures to protect themselves and are adopting
digital tools to combat technology-based frauds. Measures taken
include:
- Reviewing bank account statements often (79 per cent)
- Not sharing passwords or PINs with anyone (79 per cent)
- Not clicking on links, calling unknown phone numbers or taking
any requested action for personal or financial information until
they have verified it comes from a legitimate source (73 per
cent)
- Signing up for text message fraud alerts from their bank (41
per cent)
- Enabling two-factor authentication for added security (40 per
cent)
Despite taking these steps to protect themselves, the survey
found that four in 10 Canadians (41 per cent) are still committing
fraud faux-pas, such as writing their passwords down in a notebook
or storing them on their phone.
"Our survey found that only a fraction (18 per cent) of
Canadians consider themselves very savvy when it comes to being
able to identify and detect financial fraud," said McKinnon. "Fraud
Prevention Month offers a good opportunity to arm Canadians with
information and reinforce resources to help them feel confident in
spotting, avoiding and reporting financial fraud."
For Canadians looking to learn how to help protect themselves
and their loved ones avoid falling victim to fraud, TD offers the
following tips and advice:
- Pay attention to your fraud alerts – Banks are
now using text messaging to communicate with their customers. By
signing up for services like TD Fraud Alerts, you can receive texts
that will notify you if TD detects suspicious activity made with
your personal banking accounts – available at no cost.
- Have conversations with family and friends – Seniors are
increasingly being targeted by financial fraudsters. Help protect
your family members by educating them on the most common scams,
such as emergency scams that attempt to coerce grandparents into
sending money to their grandchild in a foreign country, or romance
scams that use legitimate dating websites to extort money from
someone looking for companionship.
- Protect your PIN – The only person who should know your
PIN is you – not even your bank should know it. Don't ever give out
your PIN, whether in person, over the phone, online or by
mail.
- Be cautious and verify if the request is real – If you
receive an email from a relative asking for funds because they're
in trouble overseas, or if you receive an unexpected and
too-good-to-be-true cheque, chances are it's fraud. Take some time
to do a little research to verify if it's real – it's always
important to know who you're doing business with.
- Check your statements, online accounts or banking apps
regularly – Taking these steps will help alert you to
fraudulent transactions faster. Money management apps, like the TD
MySpend app, can be a helpful tool and provide notifications of
spend transactions in real-time, which helps make it easy for
customers to recognize a fraudulent transaction quickly.
About the TD Fraud Survey
TD Bank Group commissioned
Environics Research Group to conduct a national online survey of
1,432 Canadians aged 18 years and older. Responses were collected
between February 1-6, 2019.
About TD Bank Group
The Toronto-Dominion Bank
and its subsidiaries are collectively known as TD Bank Group ("TD"
or the "Bank"). TD is the sixth largest bank in North America by branches and serves more than
25 million customers in three key businesses operating in a number
of locations in financial centres around the globe: Canadian
Retail, including TD Canada Trust, TD Auto Finance Canada, TD
Wealth (Canada), TD Direct
Investing, and TD Insurance; U.S. Retail, including TD Bank,
America's Most Convenient Bank®, TD Auto Finance U.S., TD Wealth
(U.S.), and an investment in TD Ameritrade; and Wholesale Banking,
including TD Securities. TD also ranks among the world's leading
online financial services firms, with more than 12 million active
online and mobile customers. TD had $1.3
trillion in assets on January 31,
2019. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades under the symbol "TD"
on the Toronto and New York Stock
Exchanges.
SOURCE TD Bank Group