I think I have been scammed.

Call the bank or credit union the money left from

Number

The bank’s number is on your card or a statement. No card? Type your bank’s web address in yourself. Do not follow a link in a message.

When

Today.

Deadline to report

For a credit card, report it at once. For a chequing or savings account, usually within 30 days of the statement date, and your bank’s deadline can be shorter.

Tell the bank how the money left: an e‑Transfer, a card, a withdrawal, a wire or cryptocurrency. Say whether someone took it without asking you or you sent it yourself; banks handle the two differently.

While you wait, write down:

• The amounts and the dates, in the order they went out.
• Which account each one came from.
• Every phone number, email address and name the scammer used, exactly as it appeared.
• Anything still on the screen: emails, texts, a browser tab, a support window someone opened remotely.

What the rules cover

• A payment you did not make or approve, on a card your bank issued. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada says the most a bank can hold you to is $50, unless it shows gross negligence, or gross fault in Quebec. Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Interac each have a policy that goes further.
• A payment you made yourself because someone lied to you. No Canadian rule says who pays. The bank decides each case on its own.
• Cryptocurrency. Once the transaction has gone through, the Anti-Fraud Centre says it is very unlikely to be reversed. Tell the trading site or wallet the money went through as well as the bank; the British Columbia Securities Commission asks for both.
• A wire, or a bank draft. Payments Canada says a wire is final once the money is in the other account, so this call cannot wait. A draft cannot be cancelled once it has been handed over, National Bank says. One still in your hands can go back to the branch, with its copy.

gross negligence the exception that takes away the limit on what you can be made to pay

The cap on what a cardholder can be made to pay for use they did not permit has one way out, and this is it: not looking after the card and its details. Quebec calls the same thing gross fault. It is the institution that claims it, not you.

Call your local police and ask for a file number

Number

Your municipal, regional or First Nations police service. Without one: the Ontario Provincial Police in Ontario, the Sûreté du Québec in Quebec, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary around St. John’s, Corner Brook and Labrador West, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police elsewhere. Dial 911 only if there is danger right now.

When

The same day. If money left a bank account, call the bank first.

Before you hang up, write down the file number and the officer’s name and phone number.

Why the file number

The bank, your insurer and both credit bureaus will ask for it. If an account you did not open appears on your credit report later, report it under the same file number.

Report the scam to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre

Number

1-888-495-8501

Hours

Monday to Friday, 10am to 4:45pm Eastern. Closed on holidays.

Online

Report Cybercrime and Fraud, at any hour, anonymously if you want.

When

The same day.

Report it whether you lost nothing or a great deal.

the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre where scams get reported nationally, which is not the same as being investigated

It gathers reports from across the country so that patterns can be seen. Your own case belongs to the local police force, and the Centre does not work it. It cannot move money either.

For an investment, also call your securities regulator

Who

The regulator for your province or territory, listed on the Canadian Securities Administrators’ Reporting wrongdoing page. Or find it on your province’s page: Your province or territory.

When

The same day as the police report.

The regulator can investigate the firm and the people who sold you the investment, and penalize them. It cannot move money or return it.

Check whether the seller was registered

The National Registration Search, at aretheyregistered.ca, shows whether anyone involved was registered to sell investments in your province.

Change your email password first, then your online banking password

Now, in this order:

• Change your email password first.
• Then end the remote connection. If someone was given control of the computer, close the program they used and disconnect the computer from the internet. Then have its operating system, the basic software that runs the computer, reinstalled, by you or by a computer repair service you choose.
• Then change your online banking password, from a different device if you have one.
• For both, use a password you have not used anywhere else, and turn on two-step verification, so signing in also needs a code sent to you.

Why email first

Whoever controls your email can reset every other password, so a password you change before the email one can be reset again.

If someone has your ID or your Social Insurance Number, call both credit bureaus

Call both bureaus if a scammer got your Social Insurance Number, a photo of your driver’s licence, your name with your date of birth, or an account number. An alert at one bureau does not reach the other.

Equifax Canada

1-800-465-7166

TransUnion Canada

1-800-663-9980

When

The same day you find out.

a credit bureau the two companies that keep the credit file lenders check

In Canada they are Equifax and TransUnion. They hold the file that says what credit is open in your name and how it has been paid. They are private companies rather than a government office, and each keeps its own file.

If someone has your Social Insurance Number, ask the police to put it in their report. You almost certainly do not need a new number: why a second Social Insurance Number can leave you worse off.

What each alert costs, and how long it lasts

• Equifax. Its Fraud Alert, for people who can confirm a fraud has happened, is free. The Fraud Alert and the Identity Alert each stay on the file for six years.
• TransUnion. Its Potential Fraud Alert is free for now, and lasts six years.

Equifax’s two alerts add your phone number and ask a lender to call you first. With Equifax’s Identity Alert, a lender in Manitoba or Ontario must check it is you. With its other alert, or in any other province, a lender is asked to check but does not have to.

Hang up on anyone who offers to return what you lost

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre says: the CAFC and police will never ask you to transfer funds or make a payment of any kind. Scammers have used the Centre’s name, letterhead and logo to ask for exactly that.

What the offer sounds like

• A company you paid for computer support says it is going bankrupt and wants to refund you, if you let it into your computer and sign in to your online banking.
• Someone from a government department or the police asks for your help catching the people who took your money.
• Someone says your money has been found and you need to pay a fee to release it.

Then report the call to the Anti-Fraud Centre.