A growing share of Canadians believe they can spot a scam but a new TD survey suggests confidence is not translating into safer behavior, even as fraud losses in Canada hit record levels.
The poll, commissioned by TD and conducted by Leger between December 18 and January 5 among more than 1,500 Canadian adults and 262 business owners, found 46% encounter scams weekly or daily. Nearly a quarter, 24%, said they or a family member had been a victim of financial fraud in the past year.
Despite that exposure, 89% said they feel confident in their ability to identify fraud. TD found that 52% admitted to behaviors that could increase their vulnerability, including using public Wi-Fi for financial accounts, opening attachments from unknown senders, clicking unverified links, and downloading apps from unfamiliar sites. About 41% said they never consult fraud prevention resources.
Tarundeep Dhot, vice president of fraud management at TD, said the gap between perceived awareness and actual behavior is one insurers and financial institutions alike need to watch closely.
"Confidence can be a double-edged sword when it comes to fraud prevention," Dhot said. "While it's encouraging that Canadians feel aware, overconfidence can sometimes lead to quick decisions or overlooked warning signs that scammers rely on. Bad actors are counting on people moving quickly or assuming they're not at risk."
The survey found a comparable pattern among business owners. About 46% said their business had been the target of a financial fraud attempt in the past year, while 88% expressed confidence in spotting fraud aimed at their business.
Business respondents reported more concrete safeguards than consumers, with 81% regularly reviewing accounts for suspicious activity, 76% saying safeguards are in place, and 75% saying employees are prepared to identify and report scams.
Younger Canadians emerged as the generation most engaged in fraud education and most likely to step in when a family member is targeted. TD found that 89% of Gen Z respondents felt confident spotting fraud, 67% said they consult resources at least once a year, and 52% said they had helped a family member deal with a scam.
Yet Gen Z was also the most likely of any generation to report risky online habits, at 65%, well above the 52% national average.
Dhot said younger Canadians are often viewed as tech-savvy and are increasingly helping others navigate fraud risks, but digital literacy alone is not sufficient. He added that staying safe requires ongoing awareness, conversation, and a willingness to pause and verify.
The findings arrive as Canada records its highest annual fraud losses on file.
According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, Canadians reported more than $704 million in fraud losses in 2025 across over 112,000 reports, up from roughly $645 million in 2024, with reported losses since 2022 surpassing $2.4 billion. Investment fraud was the costliest category by dollar value, while identity fraud was the most frequently reported type.
The Centre estimates only 5% to 10% of fraud incidents are ever formally reported. The scale of the problem prompted the federal government in March to launch consultations on Canada's first National Anti-Fraud Strategy, aimed at coordinating a response to increasingly sophisticated scams, including AI-enabled impersonation.
The confidence gap TD identifies is not confined to banking. Industry estimates from Équité Association, the national body representing Canadian property and casualty insurers on fraud, put the cost of insurance crime to Canadians at $3 billion to $5 billion annually. The Insurance Bureau of Canada separately estimates fraud adds more than $1 billion a year to premium costs.
Ghost and false brokers, unlicensed individuals who impersonate legitimate agents to bind fraudulent or misrepresented policies, show how the overconfidence TD flags can play out in insurance. Équité has warned these scammers often target Canadians less familiar with buying insurance, including newcomers, leaving victims uninsured or facing denial for material misrepresentation. TD Insurance, which has partnered with Équité on consumer education, has said it does not sell policies through brokers and that any broker claiming to represent the company is misrepresenting itself.
Brokers and insurers may also see the findings reflected in claims tied to accident benefits fraud, which Équité describes as a gateway fraud feeding into more sophisticated identity fraud networks, and in the overlap between cyber and crime coverage as business email compromise increasingly shows up in claims.
For an industry already managing elevated fraud-related costs across auto, property, and commercial lines, the data points to a practical takeaway -- reinforcing broker license verification and pause-and-verify messaging in consumer materials could close some of the same confidence gap TD is warning against.
