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What is the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre?
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) is a Canadian government service that gathers reports on fraud and identity theft and shares information about past and current scams affecting Canadians. It is a reporting and information hub rather than an enforcement body: it collects reports, analyzes patterns, and warns the public, while police and other agencies handle investigations.
What it does
- Collects reports from people who have been targeted by or lost money to fraud.
- Publishes alerts and descriptions of current and past scams.
- Uses reports to identify trends and support investigations by law enforcement and partner agencies.
Who uses it
- Individuals in Canada checking whether an offer, call, text or email is a known scam.
- People who have been defrauded and want to document it.
- Businesses and community groups looking for current fraud warnings to share.
A practical example Suppose you receive a call claiming to be from your bank and asking you to confirm a code. You can check the CAFC's scam information to see if that pattern is being reported, then report your own experience. Even if no money was lost, your report can help others.
Next step Start at Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and use the language selection to choose English or French. If you have been defrauded, report to the CAFC and also contact your local police; the CAFC's role is information collection and public warning, not recovering funds.
How do I report a scam or fraud to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre?
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) is the federal clearinghouse where Canadians report fraud and identity theft. It collects reports, warns the public about active scams, and shares intelligence with law enforcement; it is not an emergency service and generally does not recover your money or investigate individual cases itself.
Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre
How to report
- If a crime is in progress or you are in danger, call 911 first. The CAFC is for reporting, not emergency response.
- Report to your local police as well. The CAFC passes information to police, but a local report is usually what triggers an investigation and is often required by banks and insurers.
- Contact your bank or credit card issuer immediately if money or account details were involved, then change passwords and enable two-factor authentication.
- File your report with the CAFC using its online reporting system or its toll-free phone line. Expect to provide the scam type, dates, amounts, how you were contacted, and any names, phone numbers, emails, or websites used.
- Keep everything: screenshots, emails, text messages, receipts, transaction numbers, and the scammer's contact details. Add them to your report.
- If your identity was used, also contact the credit bureaus to place a fraud alert and consider a credit freeze where available.
What the CAFC does and does not do
| The CAFC does | The CAFC does not |
|---|---|
| Collect and analyse fraud reports | Recover lost funds |
| Issue public warnings about current scams | Replace a police report |
| Share intelligence with police and regulators | Provide legal advice or mediation |
| Track trends and scale of fraud in Canada | Guarantee an investigation of your case |
A useful next step
Before you start, write a short timeline: what happened, when, how much, and who contacted you. This makes both the police report and the CAFC filing faster, and it is the same information your bank will ask for. If you are unsure whether something is a scam, checking the CAFC's current scam alerts first can help you decide whether to report and what to tell others.
What should I do if I am a victim of identity theft in Canada?
If you believe you are a victim of identity theft in Canada, act on two tracks at once: contain the damage with the institutions involved, and report it so it is documented. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) is the federal clearinghouse that collects information on fraud and identity theft and publishes information on past and current scams affecting Canadians. Its site is a reporting and information resource, not an emergency service.
H3 Practical first steps
- Contact your bank and credit card issuers immediately, ask them to freeze or flag the affected accounts, and dispute any charges you did not make. Keep a written record of who you spoke to, the date, and any reference numbers.
- Change passwords on email, banking, and any account sharing the same password, and turn on two-factor authentication. If your email was compromised, secure it first — password resets for everything else flow through it.
- Place a fraud alert or credit freeze with Canada's credit reporting bureaus, Equifax Canada and TransUnion Canada, and request your credit reports to look for accounts you did not open.
- Report the identity theft to your local police, especially if you need a police file number for insurers or creditors.
- Report it to the CAFC, which collects information on fraud and identity theft and shares it with law enforcement partners. Its site also explains current scam patterns, which helps you recognise follow-up attempts.
- If government documents are involved — a passport, SIN, or driver's licence — notify the issuing authority so the document can be flagged or replaced.
H3 Reporting and information resources
| Resource | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre | Reporting fraud and identity theft, and reading current scam information for Canadians |
| Equifax Canada | Credit reports, fraud alerts, and credit freezes |
| TransUnion Canada | Credit reports, fraud alerts, and credit freezes |
| Government of Canada | Guidance on replacing SIN, passport, and other federal documents |
H3 A realistic scenario
Suppose a credit card you never applied for appears on your credit report. You would call the issuer to close it, file a police report, request the account be removed from your file with both bureaus, and submit a report to the CAFC so the pattern is recorded. The first two steps limit your liability; the last two build the paper trail that creditors and investigators rely on.
Next step: start with the institution holding the compromised account, then file your CAFC report once you have the basic facts — dates, accounts, and amounts — in front of you. If a scam is still in progress or you are in immediate danger, contact local police rather than waiting on a report.
How can I check if a specific offer or message is a known scam?
Start with the official source for your country, then verify the offer independently before you act on it. In Canada, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre collects reports on fraud and identity theft and publishes information on past and current scams affecting Canadians, so it is the natural first stop for checking whether a message matches a known pattern: Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
A practical check, in order
- Identify the claim type. Is it a prize, a refund, a job, a romance, an urgent "account locked" notice, or a delivery fee? Scam databases are usually organised by these categories, so naming the type narrows your search.
- Search the exact wording. Copy a distinctive phrase from the message into a search engine alongside the word "scam." Copycat campaigns reuse scripts, so a match is meaningful evidence.
- Check the sender's channel, not just the name. A real organisation's name in the message proves nothing. Look at the actual email domain, phone number, or account handle.
- Verify through a channel you chose. Find the organisation's official number or app yourself, then ask whether the message is genuine. Do not use contact details supplied in the message.
- Report it even if you did not lose money. Reporting helps the CAFC and similar bodies map active campaigns and warn others.
What a database check can and cannot tell you
| Question | Useful answer |
|---|---|
| "Is this a known scam?" | Often yes, if it matches a reported campaign. |
| "Is this particular message safe?" | No. A new variant may not be listed yet. |
| "Will anyone recover my money?" | Not guaranteed; reporting is mainly for intelligence and warnings. |
Absence from a scam list is not a clean bill of health. Treat it as "not yet reported," not "verified legitimate."
A concrete scenario
Suppose you get a text claiming a parcel is held and needs a small redelivery fee. Search the wording, note the link's real domain, then go to the courier's official site and track the number there. If the number does not exist in their system, the text is almost certainly fake regardless of what any list says.
Decision rule
If a message creates urgency, asks for payment or credentials, or moves you to a different channel (text to WhatsApp, email to crypto), slow down and verify through a source you found yourself. Legitimate organisations tolerate you hanging up and calling back on their published number; scammers usually do not.
What are the most common frauds currently affecting Canadians?
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) is the federal clearinghouse for reports on fraud and identity theft affecting Canadians, and it publishes information on both past and current scam campaigns. Its site at Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre is a bilingual landing page, so the practical starting point is choosing English or French and then navigating to the section on current scams.
Rather than a fixed list, the CAFC's guidance is best treated as a rotating snapshot: the scams it flags most prominently tend to fall into a few recurring families that Canadians report again and again.
- Impersonation scams — someone poses as a government agency, police, bank, or a well-known company. Common variants include fake CRA or Service Canada calls demanding immediate payment, and "your account is compromised" bank alerts.
- Investment and cryptocurrency fraud — pitches promising high or guaranteed returns, often through social media ads, romance-style grooming, or fake trading platforms that show fabricated profits before blocking withdrawals.
- Romance and relationship scams — long-running emotional manipulation that eventually turns into a request for money, gift cards, or crypto.
- Phishing and smishing — fraudulent emails, texts, and calls that harvest logins, card numbers, or one-time codes, frequently disguised as delivery notices, subscription renewals, or bank security checks.
- Merchandise and marketplace fraud — items paid for but never delivered, or overpayment and fake-payment-confirmation tricks in classified and resale transactions.
- Extortion and "sextortion" — threats to release compromising images or false claims of compromising material, with demands for payment.
- Service, prize, and emergency scams — fake tech support, lottery or prize notifications requiring a fee, and urgent "grandparent" or family-emergency calls.
A useful next step: if you or someone you know has been targeted, the CAFC's role is to collect reports and warn the public, not to recover funds. Treat its current-scams pages as your situational briefing, and report the incident so the pattern is counted. For your own protection, verify any unsolicited contact through an independently found phone number or official app, never through the number or link supplied by the caller.
Decision criterion: when a message creates urgency, secrecy, or an unusual payment method (gift cards, crypto, wire transfer), that combination is the strongest single signal of fraud, regardless of which specific scam label applies.
How does the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre use the information I provide?
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) collects the information you provide about fraud and identity theft, and uses it to build a picture of past and current scams affecting Canadians. In practice, that means your report can feed into the CAFC's public information about fraud trends, help identify patterns across many reports, and support the broader effort to warn and protect other people.
What that means for you
- It is a reporting and intelligence function, not a recovery service. The CAFC's stated role is collecting information on fraud and identity theft and providing information on scams. That is different from a police service or a bank's dispute team, which may investigate a specific case or try to recover money.
- Your report can have value beyond your own case. Even if you never get money back, the details you give can help show that a scam is widespread or is changing.
- Expect your report to sit alongside others. The CAFC describes its work in terms of fraud affecting Canadians generally, so individual reports are most useful when combined with many others.
A practical scenario
Suppose you get a text pretending to be your bank and you send money before realizing it is fake. Reporting it to the CAFC gives the centre a record of the scam's wording, timing and method. Your bank and local police may still be the ones handling your specific loss, while the CAFC uses your report to understand the wider pattern.
A useful next step
Before you report, gather the basics: dates, amounts, how you were contacted, and any names, phone numbers, emails or account details involved. Then decide who needs the report: the CAFC for the fraud pattern, your bank or payment provider for the transaction, and your local police for a possible crime. If you are not sure where to start, begin with the CAFC's own reporting guidance at Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and ask your bank what it needs separately.
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