According to a recent Scotiabank Youth Fraud poll, 63% of young Canadians have not been educated in school about financial fraud or how to protect themselves from scammers. Three out of four young Canadians have been targeted or fallen victim to various financial fraud scams via email, phone, text, credit card, or social media. While March is recognized as Fraud Prevention Month, Scotiabank is reminding Canadians of the importance of staying alert all year long and recently launched its redesigned Cybersecurity and Fraud Hub to help Canadians identify and protect themselves from financial fraud and cybercrime.
“Fraud Prevention Month is a time to bring awareness and education around common scams and financial fraud. However, we want this to be a conversation not just in March, but every month,” said Tammy McKinnon, Senior Vice President, Global Fraud Management, Scotiabank. “Financial fraud can have detrimental long-term effects and thousands of Canadians are impacted yearly. In fact, 87% of Canadian youth say more education is needed around financial fraud awareness. Knowledge is power. It’s up to us as a community to educate and prepare our future generations,” McKinnon added.
Scotiabank customers can sign-up for InfoAlerts to be notified of suspicious transactions and monitor their spending with Scotia Smart Money by Advice+. Scotia Smart Money is a free tool available to personal banking customers using the Scotiabank mobile app1. To learn more visit Scotia Smart Money by Advice+ .
“Scotiabank plays an important role in educating our customers and keeping them informed about the current trends in threats or scams, to protect themselves and their families from fraud,” said Kingsley Chak, Senior Vice President, Deposits, Savings and Investments at Scotiabank. “Scotia Smart Money by Advice+ not only helps you reach your financial goals, it provides insights, helps you manage cash flow and budgeting, while also alerting you to suspicious transactions,” added Chak.
Scotiabank suggests the following Top 10 Tips to keep Canadians of all ages safe from financial fraud:
- Sign up to get notifications from your bank about suspicious transactions
- Do not respond to unsolicited marketing emails/texts/direct messages
- Activate 2-step verification on your online accounts
- Add a lock screen feature on your mobile device and use biometrics to enable access to your device and accounts
- Never divulge or share your PIN/password with anyone
- Don’t write your PIN/password on a piece of paper
- Select a PIN/password that’s not easily recognizable, avoid common personal information, numbers and words, and regularly change your password
- Update your computer and/or mobile operating system as new versions often contain strengthened security
- Shop only from reputable online retailers and only conduct online shopping/banking from trusted devices (i.e., personal smartphone or home computer)
- Protect yourself from identify theft by shielding your private information when in public and limiting the amount of personal information you share on social media
For more tips and to learn more, visit the Scotiabank Cybersecurity and Fraud Hub: Scotiabank.com/Security