Interac survey says one quarter of Canadians have been affected by phishing scams

March is fraud prevention month, and Interac says online phishing scams are a growing trend.

Interac surveyed 1,139 people from February 9th, 2018 to February 14th, 2018 about online fraud and found some troubling results.

According to Interac, “almost one quarter of Canadians say they have clicked on a link that resulted in a phishing scam.”

Additionally, 64 percent of respondents say that they have considered clicking on a link that they weren’t sure was safe.

Phishing scams occur when fraudsters attempts to acquire personal or financial information, such as passwords or card numbers, by pretending to be someone trustworthy through electronic communications.

Interac is warning Canadians “when you’re online, don’t click on any links or open any attachments if you receive them from a sender you don’t recognize. And trust your gut. If you weren’t expecting the deposit or money request notification from someone you know, contact the sender through a different channel,” according to a March 1st, 2018 media release.

Interac also says to stay safe online look for errors or typos in the the text, like the dollar sign coming after the amount of money, instead of before it.

Interac recommends that people contact their banks right away — and change their online banking passwords — if they believe they are victims of a phishing scam.

Source: Interac