Do you regularly receive emails or texts about insurance quotes, loan approvals, or exclusive investment opportunities? Unfortunately, this makes you a high-value target for scammers.
Financial fraud is particularly high in Canada due to the widespread adoption of online banking and digital payment services. According to a new analysis from TransUnion, digital fraud attempts in Canada surpassed the global average in 2025. The median reported loss was $1,301. If you regularly interact with financial service providers, knowing the difference between a legitimate email and a scam is vital.
Why Financial Service Users Are Prime Targets
Scammers can easily acquire emails connected to financial accounts. Whenever you apply for a credit card, compare insurance, or open a trading account, financial institutions collect your personal details. Your data then enters marketing lists, which hackers can procure through data leaks.
Financial scams also come with immediate payoffs. Unlike other types of data breaches, the scammer does not need to wait for later exploitation. They can request and receive money from the victim instantly. Or, if they gain access to a victim’s account, they can send and spend money immediately.
Lastly, it’s easy to exploit the trust and urgency that naturally surround financial transactions. You’re conditioned to respond quickly to messages you receive from banks, insurers, or investment platforms. Scammers often heighten urgency by referring to fraud, account issues, or time-sensitive opportunities. Unfortunately for some, they act before questioning authenticity.
What Phishing Looks Like in a Financial Context
Scammers are able to create increasingly convincing scam emails. They take a legitimate email from a banking institution and recreate the logos and branding to a highly professional level.
Thanks to generative chatbots like ChatGPT, they can also create convincing text. Before, you could normally spot a phishing email based on poor spelling, vocabulary, and punctuation. Now, scam emails come highly polished and copy the real tone of voice of the company they’re imitating.
According to The Economist, there was a 1,265% increase in phishing messages and emails since late 2022. An increase that coincides with the release of ChatGPT.
Phishing emails come in various forms:
- Fake security alerts. These emails claim that they have detected suspicious activity on your account.
- Application update scams. These emails claim to require additional information to process a recent loan, mortgage, or credit card application.
- Account verification requests. The sender tells the recipient that they must verify or update their account details.
- Payment and billing notifications. These come in the form of fake invoices or payment reminders.
- Refund or rebate offers. Scammers trick recipients by telling them that they’re entitled to a refund.
The Red Flags That Separate a Real Provider Email From a Scam
AI has made scams more difficult to spot, but not impossible.
1. Urgency
“Act now”, “your account will close”, and “limited time offer” are three phrases you should be wary of.
2. Email Discrepancies
Examine the email address and compare it with previous correspondence. Fake emails often feature misspellings and extra punctuation.
For example, the real bank’s email may end in “@bankname.ca”.
A scam email address could read something like “@bank-name.com”.
3. Requests for Sensitive Information
Legitimate emails won’t request sensitive information. Report any email that asks for your password or full social insurance number.
4. Incorrect Links
If the email encourages you to click on an attached link, investigate the link by hovering over it. If it leads to a suspicious or totally irrelevant site, don’t click on it.
What Happens When Someone Clicks
Clicking a phishing link can be detrimental in several ways.
The scammer may be leading you to a fake login page, which will steal your credentials. Scammers could use your credentials for account takeover, identity theft, or selling your data.
If a hacker gains access to your account, they’ll likely drain funds, open credit lines, and launch further scams.
Alternatively, clicking on the link could trigger a malware download. Malware allows hackers to monitor activity, steal data, and gain remote access.
Where to Report Suspected Phishing?
If you’ve become a victim of phishing, you can report the fraud to:
- The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC)
- The Competition Bureau Canada
- The relevant financial institution
Steps to Protect Yourself
Several habits can significantly reduce your risk.
1. Don’t Click on Links
Make it a general rule to avoid clicking on links received via email. Always go to your browser and manually type out the relevant banking institution.
2. Install a VPN
Premium VPNs (VPN meaning is Virtual Private Network) can scan links and warn you of suspicious websites. Their primary function is data protection through encryption, but they can also block known malicious or phishing domains.
3. Enable Two-Factor Authentication
If a scammer gains your credentials, two-factor authentication will prevent them from accessing your account.
4. Keep Browsers Updated
Outdated software contains security vulnerabilities that scammers can easily take advantage of. Turn on automatic updates to ensure your browser operates optimally at all times.
5. Use Password Managers
Create a unique username and password for each financial account you create. Use password manager software to generate and store these passwords.
Spot Scams Before They Cost You
Phishing scams targeting financial service users have become more sophisticated in recent years. However, the main elements remain the same — they exploit trust, urgency, and routine behaviour. By being able to identify these exploitative behaviours, you can better protect yourself from phishing scams.
