Report reveals rate of crimes reported to police nationwide in 2024
As life has become increasingly digital it’s unsurprising that concern about fraud and identity theft has grown. But the latest stats show stability in the rate of incidents – at least for those crimes reported to police.
A new report from Statistics Canada reveals that the nationwide fraud rate was stable at 436 incidents per 100,000 population, while there were 14 incidents of identity theft per 100,000 population.
However, the 2024 stats do reflect a sharp rise over the past decade with the combined rate of fraud up 92%, but as this excludes the Montreal Police Service the total increase may be higher. More than a quarter of reported fraud cases were reported as cybercrimes and accounted for more than half of cybercrimes last year.
Extortion crimes reported to police were down 10% last year, to 32 incidents per 100,000 population. However, this was a 4x increase from 10 years earlier. Overall, just under half (47%) of police-reported extortion incidents were identified as cyber-related in 2024.
While these stats reveal some stability in serious financial crimes, the report stresses that these are based on reported crimes and points to the 2019 General Social Survey on Canadians' Safety (Victimization), which found that just 11% victims of fraud reported the crime to the police.
Canadians lost more than $630 million to fraud in 2024 alone according to CAFC data, but it seems many people don’t like to talk about it, especially the youngest cohort of adults.
A report earlier this year from TD found that Gen Zs are the generation most targeted by fraudster, but 51% said they would not want to talk about it at home with their family, well above the 29% average across generations. Millennials (39%) and Gen Xers (23%) are more open to discussing the topic with family.
Overall, Canada remains a relatively low crime country with the Crime Severity Index down 4% in 2024, following three consecutive years of increases. Non-violent crime was down 6% while violent crime was down 1%.
