Digital fraud attempts on the rise in Canada

Digital fraud attempts in Canada jumped 189 per cent from pre-pandemic levels, finds a new TransUnion report.

Some 57 per cent of Canadians surveyed report being targeted by scams; retail, logistics, financial services, and travel and leisure sectors see highest increase in fraudster targeting.

The 2023 State of Omnichannel Fraud Report found that digital fraud continues to rise globally. TransUnion’s analysis revealed that three per cent of all consumer transactions originating from Canada in 2022 were suspected to be fraudulent, compared to two per cent in 2019. At the same time, the number of transactions conducted digitally has markedly risen in the last few years by 103 per cent in Canada. That means that the total volume of suspected digital fraud attempts has increased dramatically, TransUnion says in a release.

Globally, such attempts increased by 80 per cent from 2019 to 2022, compared to 189 per cent for digital transactions originating in Canada during that same time.

According to proprietary insights from TransUnion’s global intelligence network and a specially commissioned consumer survey, the pivot to increasingly digital transactions since the beginning of the pandemic means the overall risk to individuals and organizations is even greater than it was pre-pandemic.

“Digital fraud trends point to industries that saw significant growth in consumer digital engagement,” said Patrick Boudreau, head of identity management and fraud solutions at TransUnion Canada.

“At the same time, the pandemic crystallized the reality that fraudsters focus their efforts to prey on organizations and institutions that have direct access to money, products or services with easily transferable monetary value. In Canada, we have seen dramatic increases in digital fraud attempts within the retail, logistics, financial services, and travel and leisure sectors. Staying ahead of these constantly evolving and ever more sophisticated fraudsters is a challenge that no company or organization is exempt from.”

For transactions originating from Canada, the analysis showed that the retail sector saw the most significant rise in suspected digital fraud, with an increase of 179 per cent from 2019 to 2022. That was followed by the logistics sector (123 per cent), financial services (28 per cent), and travel and leisure (20 per cent).