Canadian financial institutions, businesses, and individuals are facing a range of fraud risks today such as identity theft and online scams. Change is the only constant in this evolving landscape. A new survey from KPMG Canada warns that fraudsters are using generative AI to create more convincing deepfakes, increasing the risk of consumers getting defrauded. In 2023, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) reported a staggering $554 million in victim losses, surpassing 2022 losses of $530 million, and most industry experts agree that even these shockingly high fraud loss numbers are understated because many fraud losees are not reported by victims. 

Now, more than ever, it is crucial to ensure the safety and security of our financial system. Trust in the financial sector is essential to maintaining stability and fostering confidence in the everyday lives of Canadians. 

While the Federal Government’s 2023 Fall Economic Statement emphasized measures to protect Canadians from evolving threats and safeguard the integrity of our financial infrastructure, financial institutions find themselves walking the line between needing to provide innovative services and experiences to customers while ensuring safety and security in new, uncharted waters.

Fighting in Silos: A Fragmented Landscape

Financial institutions are often the frontline defenders against fraud, but many operate in silos. Each bank, credit union, and payment processor fight their own battles, armed with only their own tools and strategies. To stay ahead of ever evolving fraud schemes, they must keep investing in their risk management strategy. 

It is often said, ”the whole is better than the sum of its parts”. With fast-moving digital fraud tactics, it is vital that the industry is intentional and collaborative in its efforts to fight fraudsters instead of competing with each other in fraud management capabilities.

The Call for Alliance: A Shared Data-Driven Approach

Fraud detection and fraud prevention are emerging as some of the most critical competencies for banks to possess today. With the nature of fraud becoming more dynamic, banks and other financial institutions need to constantly adapt their technologies to address emerging threats. That’s why creating new fraud detection models that are collaborative, offering cross-industry insights and enabling organizations to detect signs of fraud and examine irregularities rapidly and at scale are critical.  

Since 2018, Symcor has been fighting fraud through its COR.IQ Alliance, a group of Canadian financial institutions that utilize networked data to flag suspicious transactions and proactively alert members. 

Rather than relying solely on their own data to develop effective fraud prevention solutions, members of the alliance work together by sharing their data compliantly and securely through COR.IQ. This collaborative approach enables COR.IQ to continually enhance its ability to detect fraudulent activities and devise robust solutions that benefit all alliance members by reducing fraud losses. Moreover, COR.IQ ensures that proprietary data from financial institutions remains confidential, mutually benefiting all alliance members.

COR.IQ, Symcor’s fraud detection line of service, applies data analytics and machine learning to networked data to detect potential trends and threats, and generates timely alerts for members to proactively review and stop suspicious transactions. 
Since inception, Symcor’s fraud detection solutions have surfaced a variety of fraud trends and patterns, including counterfeit government cheque schemes, fake cheques drawn on non-existent lines of credit and fraud involving cancelled cheques. 

Association of Finance Professionals
Payments Canada

Symcor Launches New Solution to Combat Payment Fraud

To counter the growing risk of payment fraud, Symcor has launched Payee Verify, a solution that proactively detects fraudulent activities during account-to-account transfers such as EFTs or wires. This is the first-of-its-kind solution in Canada that helps address Authorized Push Payment fraud where unsuspecting individuals are deceived into electronically transferring funds to fraudulent accounts. 

Payee Verify will seamlessly integrate into financial institutions’ existing payment infrastructure, helping to prevent suspicious transactions from being processed. To learn more about Symcor’s Payee Verify, visit https://www.symcor.ca/payee-verify