Nestled amongst nearly $142 billion in new spending announced in the federal government’s November budget was a significant measure regarding how fraud-related loss could be handled by Canadian banks in the near future. 

As part of the country’s first National Anti-Fraud Strategy – which is set to launch in 2027 – the Liberals announced their intentions to amend the Bank Act to impose zero-liability for customers who lose money related to unauthorized transactions, unless the consumer is found grossly negligent.

In a post-budget interview with Zoomer, Sarah Bradley, Ombudsman and CEO at OBSI – Canada’s independent dispute resolution service for banking and investment complaints, including fraud claims – said the proposed amendment is a step in the right direction. 

“For both financial institutions and consumers, it would be better to have some clarity about the protections that are in place,” she says of the inclusion. “That’s lacking right now. The proposals in the federal budget really do make a move in the right direction to improve the certainty for everybody.”

Certainty is one thing, protection is another. With the government including what essentially amounts to a “gross negligence” clause, the new legislation may not cover instances where  victims are tricked into transferring or withdrawing funds. 

Bradley says the extent of protection afforded by any new legislation will hinge on how the legislation defines “gross negligence” and “unauthorized transactions”. “We hope the government does give some careful thought and some clear direction on both of those issues,” she says. Those definitions will impact seniors greatly. Investment fraud and other scams involving the voluntary transfer of funds disproportionately affect the older population as many of them rely on landline communication and in-person withdrawals that target retirement savings, home equity, and lump-sum pensions. According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre’s (CAFC) 2024 annual report, Canadians aged 60 and older accounted for 36 per cent of all investment fraud losses, which was approximately $111.8 million CAD. 

The broader picture isn’t pretty either. According to the CAFC, Canadians aged 60 and older reported losing over $179 million to scams in the most recently published full-year statistics. Despite making up 25 per cent of all fraud victims, that figure represents 40 per cent of total losses among the most costly fraud categories. Meanwhile, the focus on “unauthorized transactions” is concerning as well, what with all the sophisticated tactics fraudsters use to steal large sums from their victims via authorized transactions. According to a May 2026 financial crime report by Nasdaq Verafin, losses from this specific category of fraud – called authorized push payment (APP) fraud – reached $1.4 billion in Canada in 2025, nearly matching the $2 billion in losses from traditional unauthorized fraud. 

Current protections regarding AAP fraud are limited at Canadian banks. In instances where someone uses your credit or debit card credentials without permission, your liability is currently capped at $50, unless (you guessed it) you were grossly negligent. Outside of that, banks are legally permitted to place total liability on customers for unauthorized Interac e-Transfers, wire transfers and international funds transfers. 

If the proposed legislation fails to address this growing problem, Canadians could continue to (literally) pay for that gap in protection. 

A Pervasive Problem

For all the unanswered questions that remain, the government’s National Anti-Fraud Strategy promises to take the onus off Canadians when it comes to preventing and addressing fraud. In addition to the Bank Act amendment, the government plans to introduce fraud-related protections across telecommunications sectors and digital platforms as well. “To protect Canadians, organizations will be required to prevent, detect, disrupt, and respond to fraud, and to work with each other, across sectors, to resolve fraud-related complaints,” Budget 2026 reads. 

“That direction is positive,” Bradley says. “We see a lot of fraud and they’re not isolated to one sector. So looking for prevention and detection and resolution across the whole ecosystem does make a lot of sense.” It’s a strategy that speaks to the pervasiveness of fraud in Canada. “The challenge is that there’s just far too many Canadians that are falling victim,” Bradley says. “The protections that are in place aren’t effective enough. It’s clear to everybody that more needs to be done.” 

The banking ombudsman’s services are available to Canadians seeking compensation for a fraud-related loss once they’ve gone through the bank’s internal complaint handling process and haven’t been compensated, or if the bank hasn’t responded to a claim after 56 days. “We’ve seen an unprecedented rise in fraud cases coming to OBSI,” Bradley says, adding that they’ve seen over 2,800 cases this year, which makes up over a third of all banking cases. “It tripled in a three year period.” 

Tips to Safeguard Yourself

While we await the slow legislative grind that is launching the multi-sector strategy, prevention largely remains our responsibility. “Anyone can be a victim,” Bradley says. “That’s very important for people to recognize. People think ‘I’m not vulnerable, I’m not gullible, it won’t happen to me,’ but these frauds that we see are incredibly ingenious.” 

Below, Bradley shares some tips to help us recognize scams and avoid falling victim.

TURN ON YOUR ACCOUNT ALERTS. Make sure that you’ve adjusted the settings so that you’re getting alerts to your phone to let you know immediately when things are happening in your bank or your credit card account. If something seems suspicious, contact the bank [or credit card company] immediately.

NEVER SEND MONEY IN RESPONSE TO AN UNEXPECTED CALL, EMAIL OR TEXT no matter who it’s from, but especially if it feels like there’s some kind of pressure to act quickly or keep the request a secret. Hang up and call back the bank, the company, the family member – whoever it is. 

NEVER SHARE PASSWORDS OR PINS. It sounds very simple, but you wouldn’t believe how tricky fraudsters can be. 

FEEL FREE TO DISCUSS MAJOR OR UNUSUAL FINANCIAL REQUESTS with a friend or family member. Very often frauds succeed because of a sense of urgency, a sense of secrecy. It gives an opportunity for that neighbour or friend or family member to help identify when a fraud is taking place.