Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Canada Launches First National Anti-Fraud Strategy
Anti-Fraud | Oct 20, 2025
Image: Freepik
Ahead of Budget 2025, Canada Unveils a National Anti-Fraud Strategy and New Financial Crimes Agency
On October 20 2025, the Department of Finance Canada released plans for a National Anti-Fraud Strategy that will be introduced through Budget 2025. The initiative is designed to combat growing financial fraud, scams, and economic abuse that affects millions of Canadians every year.
According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, Canadians lost $645 million to fraud in 2024 (almost a 300% increase since 2020), noting only 5-10% of scams are ever reported. The government says the new strategy aims to reverse that trend through prevention, data sharing, and stronger oversight across financial and digital channels.
Honourable Gary Anandasangaree, Minister of Public Safety:
“Today’s financial criminals make use of every modern tool at their disposal to try to defraud Canadians. Our government’s new Strategy is tackling head-on the threat posed by these fraudsters. A stand-alone Agency to fight financial crime is critical to maintaining confidence in our financial system, and keeping people, and their money, safe.”
Planned Rule Changes and New Enforcement Agency
As an early step, Budget 2025 will propose amendments to the Bank Act that would require banks to:
See: When Fraud Controls Freeze Millions of Bank Accounts
- Establish policies to detect and prevent consumer-targeted fraud
- Obtain express consent before enabling account transfer or payment features that could be exploited by scammers
- Allow customers to adjust transaction limits and disable unwanted account capabilities
- Collect and report fraud data to the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada
The changes are expected to strengthen consumer control and protection, especially for seniors, newcomers, and other vulnerable groups.
The government also intends to create a new Financial Crimes Agency by spring 2026. This federal agency would lead investigations into money laundering, organized crime, and online fraud, bringing together financial, legal, and law enforcement expertise to recover illicit funds. Rules to formally establish the agency is expected in 2026 after consultation with the Ministers of Justice and Public Safety.
Addressing Economic Abuse
The government will also work with banks and stakeholders to develop a voluntary Code of Conduct for the Prevention of Economic Abuse. The code will set clear expectations for how financial institutions identify and respond to economic abuse, a type of financial control and coercion that often targets women and seniors. Work will be guided by principles of victim focused support, collaboration, and financial empowerment.
See: Stingray Security Wins ScamShield Challenge
Banks (perhaps with the help of financial technology providers) will play a key role as front-line institutions that can detect early signs of financial control or distress and provide safe guidance for clients to regain independence.
Implications for Canada’s Fintech Ecosystem
For fintech companies, the emerging anti-fraud legislation means there's a strong focus on consumer trust and financial resilience. Stricter fraud controls for banks will also apply to their fintech partners through compliance expectations and data standards.
Fintech firms that build strong fraud detection and digital ID tools will have an advantage, finding it easier to work with banks while everyone benefits from a safer financial system. Companies that are transparent, secure, and possess strong governance will earn public and institutional trust.
See: Anatomy of Rising Deepfake Scams in Crypto and Fintech
The creation of a Financial Crimes Agency also opens new opportunities for collaboration between the public and private sectors on cyber risk, data sharing, and proceeds of crime recovery.
Conclusion
While the full framework, funding, and timeline details will be presented at Budget 2025, protecting Canadians from financial fraud is a national priority, raising the minimum bar for a trusted digital economy.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create aa vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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