How likely is it to fall victim to fraud? As far as I’m aware, I personally have not purchased from a fraudulent site, but I have had my card details stolen in the past. Additionally, I remember years ago that while attempting to find a flat, I found a ‘rental company’ who turned out to be one person attempting to rent out flat 13 that due to superstition didn’t actually exist.

In the case of the 13th flat, I asked to view it, and it was easy to identify the scam due to the lack of a physical location. Note: this didn’t stop the scammer, who attempted to present multiple accents and claim it was being cleaned.

However, when purchasing online, it’s not that easy to spot a scam.

60% of Canadians Fear Falling Victim to Fraud this Holiday Season

In an online survey funded by Scotiabank and provided by Maru/Blue, of the 1,519 Canadians (18+) surveyed between 25 and 26 November 2019, forty-seven percent (47%) responded with having been targeted by fraud. According to this survey, of those targeted, almost all (76%) did not report it.

In the 2019 e-commerce report by Canada Post, 80% of Canadians are purchasing online. Of these purchasers compared against the statistics found by the Scotiabank report:

  • Scotiabank’s report says 49% of millennials (18-35) do not know how to report fraud and are more likely to be victims of fraud (55%)
  • Canada Post’s report puts millennials as the second largest purchaser of online goods (32%) and Baby boomers (53-72) as the highest group (35%).
  • Scotiabank also found that 70% of millennials shred personal documents, while 84% did so within the 55+ age range.

In a society that is constantly growing within the e-commerce market, (See eTrail Canada’s 2019 Directors report for these (Read more...)