Majority of Canadians believe more education is needed on financial fraud & cybersecurity awareness, according to Scotiabank Fraud Awareness Poll

Scotiabank becomes first Canadian bank to offer interactive fraud simulations to help customers identify cybercrime

TORONTO, Nov. 21, 2022 /CNW/ - According to a recent Scotiabank Fraud Awareness poll, almost seven out of 10 Canadians (68%) have been targeted or fallen victim to various financial fraud scams via email, phone, text, credit card, or social media. With the holiday shopping season upon us, Scotiabank is reminding Canadians of the importance of remaining vigilant all year long and has launched its redesigned Cybersecurity and Fraud Hub to help Canadians identify and protect themselves from cybercrime.

"Fraud can impact any of us and should be an important topic of conversation amongst all Canadians," said Tammy McKinnon, Senior Vice President, Global Fraud Management, Scotiabank. "As a large financial institution, we play an important role in educating our customers and keeping them informed about the current trends in threats or scams, to protect themselves and their families from fraud."

According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC), to date in 2022, fraud losses in Canada total $362.7 million. That amount is likely much higher given that they estimate that less than 5% of victims report to the CAFC. Scotiabank's Hub is the first of its kind in Canada to include fraud simulations where users can evaluate email and text message exchanges, websites, as well as listen to voicemail examples to assess the authenticity of this content.

"At Scotiabank, our customer's safety and security is paramount," said Steve Sparkes, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer, Scotiabank. "As cyber criminals continue to target innocent victims, 89% of Canadians agree that more education is needed to support financial fraud and cybersecurity awareness. Scotiabank's Cybersecurity and Fraud Hub aims to fill that need by highlighting the increasingly sophisticated scams being used and how the public can protect themselves."

As part of the Scotiabank Cybersecurity and Fraud Hub, users will have access to:

1. An interactive fraud simulator to help identify commons scams
2. Information on how Scotiabank helps protect its customers against cybercrime
3. A list of the actions Canadians can take to help protect themselves and their family against scams

Scotiabank's refreshed Cybersecurity and Fraud Hub also includes a section designed to further educate small and medium business owners and their employees on best practices to help protect their business and customer information.

To learn more, visit the Scotiabank Cybersecurity and Fraud Hub: Scotiabank.com/Security

About The Poll

The Scotiabank Fraud poll was conducted on behalf of Scotiabank by Maru Public Opinion with its sample and data collection experts at Maru/Blue on October 18-19, 2022, among a random selection of 1,511 Canadian adults who are Maru Voice Canada panelists. The results were weighted by education, age, gender, and region (and in Quebec, language) to match the population, according to Census data. For comparison purposes, a probability sample of this size has an estimated margin of error (which measures sampling variability) of +/- 2.3%, 19 times out of 20.

About Scotiabank

Scotiabank is a leading bank in the Americas. Guided by our purpose: "for every future", we help our customers, their families and their communities achieve success through a broad range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. With a team of over 90,000 employees and assets of approximately $1.3 trillion (as at July 31, 2022), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: BNS) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BNS). For more information, please visit http://www.scotiabank.com and follow us on Twitter @Scotiabank.

SOURCE Scotiabank

For media inquiries only: Vanessa Barrasa | Global Communications Scotiabank | [email protected]