Jon Purther
Director of Research at Payments Canada
Despite growing awareness and confidence in cybersecurity, 1 in 5 Canadian businesses experienced payment fraud in the last six months. As threats become more sophisticated, continuous improvement in security practices is essential to protect businesses from significant financial losses.
According to a recent study from Payments Canada, 1 in 5 Canadian businesses experienced payment fraud in the past six months. This is despite 63% of businesses who report that they feel confident in knowing how to protect themselves against payment fraud and cybercrime and 61% who say they are more aware of how to recognize potential threats.
The most common types of fraud experienced by Canadian businesses were impersonator fraud originating from a phone call, message or email that appears to be from a trusted business source (25%), intercepted business’ e-Transfers (22%), and credit card fraud (20%). When fraud occurred, over a third of businesses (39%) suffered losses greater than $1,000 in a single experience.
As payment fraud and cybersecurity threats become more sophisticated, businesses face the challenge of constantly evolving their security practices to keep up. Our study findings reinforce that there is no room for complacency around cybersecurity measures to protect against and detect fraud risks for Canadian businesses regardless of size and industry.
Almost 2 in 3 businesses (65%) would even be happy to take extra steps to make an online transaction if it meant they were better protected. When transferring money online, 3 in 5 businesses (61%) would be willing to better protect themselves from scams, even if the process called for more time-consuming steps.
While many businesses are taking preventative measures to keep their payments safe, there is always room for improvement, including better password management. Overall, 41% of commercial businesses and 39% of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) store their passwords on their smartphone, personal computer or laptop. One in three (33%) of commercial businesses and one in four (25%) of SMEs and tend to use the same password for all their business-related accounts.
With nearly half (45%) of businesses reporting an increase in fraudulent or suspicious activity directed at them through email over the last 12 months, companies have also gained a heightened level of awareness. As we look to the future, continued education for businesses, employees and consumers, working in tandem with evolving technologies and cybersecurity best practices will be critical in combatting the fraud challenges that businesses face.
Learn more at payments.ca.
