Feds announce agency to tackle online scams and money laundering

OTTAWA — The federal government’s upcoming budget will include plans for a new Financial Crimes Agency designed to improve Canada’s ability to tackle online scams, money laundering and other types of fraud, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced Monday.

In the latest in a series of pre-budget announcements, Champagne said Ottawa will take “bold action” in establishing the new agency because Canadians are besieged with a growing array of financial scams, including fake emails, ghost texts, phishing links, masked voiceover calls and other forms of fraud.

The new organization, first identified as a need about five years ago, will use a whole-of-government approach to specialize in fighting sophisticated plots and schemes, some of which are perpetrated by organized crime.

The new plan will be at the centre of the government’s new strategy to fight fraud and will be supported by new legislative changes to the Bank Act, scheduled to be unveiled this spring. The new legislation will require banks and other financial institutions to play a larger and more proactive role in detecting and fighting various types of fraud.

Speaking to reporters in Ottawa, Champagne said the new plan will “unite the expertise” of existing government organizations who are already tasked in various ways with fighting online scams and fraud.

The relationship between the new agency and existing government bodies in this space, however, is unclear, although Champagne did refer to taking a more co-ordinated approach. He did not specify if any existing government bodies would be folded into the new agency or if their roles might be supplanted. The existing groups include the RCMP, regional and local police, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

Anthony Ostler, chief executive officer of the Canadian Bankers Association, called the announcement “very welcome news” because online scams are such a growing threat that Canada needs to fight back with an agency that is entirely dedicated to the cause. A national organization will be better placed to implement best practices from around the world and “connect the dots” when scams target individuals across the country, he said.

“If we just have stuff spread across the country, the bad actors will continue to win.”

There’s little doubt, however, that online fraud is a growing threat. According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, Canadians were scammed out of $643-million in this way in 2024, almost three times the figure from just four years earlier. Only between five and 10 per cent of these types of scams are reported, the government said.

Champagne said that seniors, new Canadians and other more vulnerable populations are disproportionately affected.

Anthony Quinn, president of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, said the new plan will “put some teeth” into the fight against online scams. In the past, Quinn said, Canadians’ best defence has been education and it has proven to be inadequate.

The government also said it will work more closely with financial institutions and other stakeholders to detect signs of abuse early, including the creation of a new, voluntary Code of Conduct for the Prevention of Economic Abuse that will be overseen by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada.

A government press release said “economic abuse” — such as restricting access to money, sabotaging employment, or forcing debt — is an “under-recognized form of gender-based violence and financial harm.”

National Post

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