Canadian seniors, watch out for these scams + MORE Mar 29th

Young adults are eager to master their personal finances. And it’s never been easier to find all sorts of personal finance advice on social media, whether it’s on TikTok, Instagram, X/Twitter or YouTube. You can easily scroll through endless hours of posts and videos about money from influencers—or rather #finfluencers. 

But it’s not always wise to follow the personal finance advice you find online. Viral #MoneyTok videos may point to ways you can earn fast money, but that doesn’t mean you should trust them. Some can be schemes to get you to pay to learn about products they sell, and others are sharing their money story—mistakes and all. So, how can you filter the good advice from the bad? 

Be aware of bad financial advice

Many Canadians fall victim to scams that offer a fast and easy way to make money, including many involving cryptocurrencies. In 2024, Canadians reported losses of more than $310 million to investment fraud, according to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, much of it involving deceptive ads…

Well, it’s official: the would-be spring housing market is in a slump. Home sales dropped across Canada by 9.8% month over month, and by over 10% annually, according to the latest data from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). The organization which blamed tariff uncertainty.

It’s not surprising that buyers across Canada are hesitant to buy a home right now. Even though the blanket tariffs aren’t yet in force, the constantly changing rules around them has already harmed markets and stoked fears of a Canadian recession. That’s hardly reassuring for someone considering a home purchase if they’re worried about their job and their savings.

However, there’s an upside for buyers continuing to shop for a home. Affordability has largely improved across Canada, mainly due to dropping mortgage rates, which helped offset rising prices in some cities.

The February edition of Ratehub.ca’s Home Affordability Report found the required income to qualify for a mortgage on the average-priced home decreased in eight of 13 major markets…

Cryptocurrency investing offers new and exciting opportunities, but it’s also rife with scams and tech-savvy con artists. And since the crypto space remains largely unregulated, it’s often difficult to distinguish between genuine investment opportunities and scams.

In 2024, investment scams conned Canadians out of more than $310 million, and “well over 50%” of the reported losses were related to cryptocurrency investments, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) told MoneySense. Crypto investments are the top type of investment scams reported to the CAFC. It’s estimated that fewer than 5% of scams are reported, so the actual losses are likely much higher.

Scammers often find victims on social media

Cryptocurrency scams are often intertwined with other types of scams—and the criminals behind them cast a wide net. Con artists frequently find potential marks on social media. According to an analysis by TradingPlatforms based on FTC data, nearly one-third of social media crypto fraud happens on Instagram, and one-quarter on Facebook…

You don’t have to be a senior to be aware that scams of all sorts abound in both the physical and—increasingly—the cyber world. Sadly, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has exacerbated frauds of all kinds. While anyone can fall prey to technology-enabled schemes to separate them from their money, seniors need to pay particular attention, since they often have more money to lose and less time to recoup it, and many are socially isolated. 

Flip through the many articles on MoneySense.ca and you’ll see we have covered such topics as getting scammed through e-transfers, phishing, crypto schemes, identity theft and more. There’s financial fraud in general that targets bank accounts, credit cards and potentially every other aspect of your financial life.

It’s overwhelming, and the situation is unlikely to improve any time soon.

How Canadian seniors are being targeted for fraud and scams

Photo by Kampus Production

Frauds can be conducted by telephone, email, texting on phones and via social media, not to mention the old-fashioned knock on a home owner’s door…

In 2024, Canadians lost a jaw-dropping $638 million to fraud, according to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC). That’s already a hefty $60 million more than losses reported the previous year, but the true total is likely much, much higher—experts at the CAFC say that less than 5% of scams are ever reported.

What we do know, however, is the type of fraud reported most often in Canada in 2024: identity fraud. To pull this off, criminals use phishing scams and other ruses to trick Canadians into revealing personal and financial information. Depending on what they find out, scammers could impersonate you, charge purchases to your credit card, apply for a loan and/or mortgage in your name, drain your bank accounts and more.

Scams are becoming harder to identify. Some fraudsters now use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to create highly convincing audio and video “deepfakes” using Canadians’ voices and faces. AI tools are also helping criminals target exponentially more people at once, making scams harder to avoid…