Households are losing larger amounts amid a worsening fraud landscape across gaming and online communities
Canada is outpacing the rest of the world when it comes to digital fraud exposure, with the country's suspected fraud rate running well ahead of the global benchmark and victims losing more money on average over the past year.
TransUnion's H1 2026 Update to the Top Fraud Trends Report found that 4.4% of digital transactions involving Canadian consumers were flagged as suspected fraud attempts in 2025, compared with a global average of 3.8% during the same period.
Although that figure represents a dip from 2024, Canada's fraud rate has remained persistently elevated relative to worldwide levels.
The problem is especially acute at the point where users sign into existing accounts. In Canada, 14.2% of account login attempts in 2025 were suspected to be fraudulent; more than three times the global rate of 4.3%. Account creation fraud was also present, at 4.6%, though the data suggests the login stage carries the greatest concentration of risk.
Among the 13% of Canadians surveyed who said they lost money to digital fraud in the past year, the median reported loss came in at $1,301 with stolen credit card fraud or fraudulent charges the leading driver of those losses in Canada, cited by 26% of affected respondents.
Third-party seller scams on legitimate e-commerce platforms ranked second at 22%, followed by account takeover at 21%.
Sophisticated attacks
The survey findings point to an increasingly diverse set of attack methods, with phishing affecting 20% of those who lost money and identity theft touching 18%.
Online communities including dating platforms and forums recorded the highest suspected fraud attempt rate in Canada at 11.9%, alongside a 63% year-over-year surge in suspected fraud volume.
Video gaming was close behind, with a fraud attempt rate of 11.7% and a 53% increase in volume. Both figures stand in stark contrast to global patterns, where suspected fraud volume in online communities actually fell 36% over the same period, and gaming saw only a 7% rise.
But suspected fraud volume dropped sharply in several major Canadian categories, falling 73% in online retail, 62% in logistics, and 32% in financial services; evidence that targeted interventions can move the needle.
"Canadians are sending a clear signal: trust and data security now sit at the centre of every digital interaction," said Andrew Sigfrid, Director, Fraud Analytics at TransUnion Canada. "With more than half of Canadians concerned about falling victim to identity theft and nearly eight in ten (78%) saying confidence in personal data security is very important when choosing who to do business with online, organizations should no longer treat security as a backend issue. Protecting personal data is now a frontline expectation and an important differentiator for earning and keeping consumer trust in an increasingly digital economy."
