Canadians are being targeted by online fraudsters at a rate far exceeding the global average, with dating sites, gaming platforms, and government portals emerging as the most vulnerable spaces, according to a new report by TransUnion.
The findings, drawn from a survey of nearly 13,000 participants across 18 countries including roughly 1,000 Canadians paint a troubling picture of Canada’s digital safety landscape. More than one in ten online interactions involving Canadians on platforms like dating sites and community forums were flagged as suspected fraud attempts last year, clocking in at 11.9 percent compared to a global average of just 8.1 percent.
What sets this wave of fraud apart from traditional data breaches is its deeply personal nature. Rather than quietly siphoning data from compromised databases, these fraudsters are playing a longer, more calculated game inserting themselves directly into conversations, building rapport, and exploiting the trust that people extend on social platforms.
The numbers reflect that shift dramatically. Suspected fraud in Canada’s online communities sector surged 63 percent in 2025 compared to the year prior, and video gaming platforms saw a 53 percent spike over the same period. Both figures stand in stark contrast to global trends, where online community fraud actually fell by 36 percent, and gaming fraud edged up by only 7 percent.
“These rising risks reflect fraudsters’ growing focus on platforms that facilitate person-to-person interactions, online social engagement and public-service access areas where identity trust gaps and high digital activity create fertile ground for exploitation,” the report’s authors noted.
Government-related fraud attempts also climbed 14 percent, while online gambling platforms and insurance sectors saw increases of 7 percent and 3 percent respectively.
The picture wasn’t uniformly bleak. Focused interventions appear to be working in several sectors. Suspected fraud in online retail collapsed by 73 percent, logistics dropped 62 percent, and financial services saw a 32 percent decline evidence, the report suggests, that meaningful progress is achievable when industries take targeted action.
Across all digital transactions, 4.4 percent of those involving Canadian consumers were flagged as potential fraud in 2025, versus a global average of 3.8 percent. While this marks a modest year-over-year improvement, the report’s authors were careful not to read too much into it.
“While this represents a slight year-over-year decline from 2024 levels, it still underscores Canadian digital interactions remain a disproportionately attractive target for fraudsters relative to many other markets,” they wrote.
Perhaps the most striking figure in the report: 14.2 percent of account login attempts in Canada were identified as potentially fraudulent last year more than three times the global average of 4.3 percent.
For those who did fall victim, the financial toll was real and significant. Thirteen percent of surveyed Canadians reported losing money to digital fraud over the past year, with an average loss of $1,301 per person.
Stolen credit card information and unauthorized charges were the most commonly reported fraud type, affecting 26 percent of victims. Third-party seller scams on e-commerce platforms came in second at 22 percent, followed closely by account takeovers at 21 percent. Phishing where fraudsters impersonate trusted institutions to extract sensitive information accounted for 20 percent of cases, while smishing, its text message-based cousin, made up 15 percent.
Despite the volume of attempts, the majority of targeted Canadians managed to avoid becoming victims. Only 6 percent of survey respondents said they fell for a fraud scheme between August and December 2025, a three percentage point drop from the previous year. Nearly half 49 percent reported being targeted but successfully avoiding the trap, while 45 percent said they weren’t approached at all.
Still, anxiety runs high. More than half of surveyed Canadians 52 percent said they worry about falling victim to identity theft, and 41 percent expressed concern about their accounts being accessed without authorization.
The findings underscore a growing reality: as digital life becomes more social and interconnected, so too does the sophistication of those looking to exploit it.
