March is Fraud Prevention Month in Canada, a month-long education campaign organized by the Competition Bureau of Canada. Each year in support of the month, government organizations, law enforcement agencies and private sector firms, including Visa, participate in a range of events and promotions to fight fraudulent practices that target consumers and businesses.
To counter the culture of oversharing and inform cardholders of their role in preventing fraud, Visa created an interactive choose-your-own-adventure video called The Concert, designed to entertain and educate cardholders about the consequences of their actions around safeguarding payment data and personal information. A few small changes today in how Canadians behave and share information online can help to minimize card fraud down the road.
When it comes to payment card fraud, recent research by independent firm Fabrizio Ward on behalf of Visa Canada, found that almost half (45 percent) of 18-34 year olds in Canada reported taking risks with their payment card information, such as loaning their card to someone or sharing their payment card information over email, phone or text. Not surprisingly, individuals in this age group also reported the highest level of online sharing activities, including keeping an open profile on a social networking site, posting to a social media site at least once a day, publically sharing photos, and posting their employment history online. As a result of these behaviours, 43 per cent had experienced some form of payment card fraud.
By contrast, among those aged 35 and older, a significantly lower number of respondents (32 per cent) reported taking risks with their payment card information. This group also reported less sharing of personal information online, and not surprisingly only 19 per cent had been victims of payment card fraud.
According to the Competition Bureau, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) recently revealed that fraud is a large and growing problem in Canada:
- Annually, approximately 1 million Canadians are victims of mass marketing fraud and identity theft, at a cost of $10 billion.
- Six in 10 Canadians were targeted by fraud in 2010.
- Nearly 80 percent of mass marketing fraud— fraud using the telephone, mail or Internet to reach a large pool of potential victims—is conducted by organized crime groups.
- Despite the pervasiveness of the problem, 9 in 10 Canadians do not speak to anyone about fraud, and fewer than 5 per cent of fraud victims contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre to report the offence.
