Learning how to spot signs of financial fraud is the first line of defence when it comes to protecting your finances. Regardless of your age or level of tech-savvy, anyone can fall victim to fraud. 

Young Canadians, including post-secondary students, who think they wouldn't fall victim to a scam, run the risk of potentially not doing enough to protect themselves and their hard-earned (or hard-borrowed) money.

Everyone — at any age — needs to stay vigilant about scams.

Glenn Carstens Peters

According to recent data* conducted by the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), less than half (44 per cent) of polled post-secondary students are worried about falling victim to a scam while at school. 

Yet, 51 per cent of students say it's getting harder to know when a situation is in fact a scam, and a majority of the students polled (80 per cent) believe they need to learn more about fraud as well. The majority (83 per cent) also admit to actions that make them more vulnerable to scams. 

To help keep you and your money safe, we connected with the fraud-education experts at RBC to identify four tips all young Canadians can practice to limit their chances of falling victim to scams.

Say no to unsolicited calls, emails, or texts

We're all extremely familiar with the random calls or texts alerting us that we're wanted by the Canadian Border Service Agency, or that we've won a tropical vacation.

It's a common trick for fraudsters to impersonate governments, banks, law enforcement, or other trusted people to get us to share important information. Another trick fraudsters use often is to cause a sense of urgency in order to get you to respond to their requests. Don't ever feel pressured to respond.

Priscilla Du Preez

Instead, if you receive any kind of automated call from "your financial institution" or any other government/business asking to confirm personal or financial information, RBC recommends always hanging up and calling the number listed on the back of your debit or credit card. You can also confirm the phone number from a trusted source. 

Stay vigilant online

If it seems too good to be true, then it usually is. This is very important to keep in mind while you browse the web or social media. Avoid clicking links or opening attachments from unknown senders or anything that does not seem legitimate.

Christin Hume

Never, ever enter your login information or credit card details unless you are 100 per cent confident the website is legitimate.

Red flags to stay on the lookout for include spelling errors, URLs that don't match the company's verified site, or no locked security symbol in the address bar — which can indicate your browsing is not secure.

Practice good password hygiene

Changing our passwords on a regular basis is an easy way to stay safe online. It's important to remember that you should not recycle old passwords or share your banking logins with anybody. Your first MSN password from Grade 8 is not going to cut it here!

Thirty-nine per cent of post-secondary students polled have used the same password for their mobile banking as they do for other accounts.

RBC recommends picking tough passwords that aren't easy to guess, using a variety of characters and numbers, and applying different passwords for each site. Never share your passwords either!

Start safe financial habits

A quick and easy way to stay safe is to maintain safe financial habits like setting up alerts on your phone through your banking apps, and monitoring your account activity and statements for anything suspicious.

While these tips can help reduce your risk of financial fraud, fraudsters are getting more sophisticated every day. If you believe that you've been of victim of a scam, notify your bank and police as soon as possible. 

The quicker you alert the authorities about the situation, the faster you'll be able to limit the potential damage and recuperate funds.

Wes Hicks

As young Canadians entering post-secondary, it's now your turn to independently manage your own finances and stay ahead of risks.  

Remember, you can always check out RBC's many online resources to identify fraudsters and help you stay proactive and informed.

*From July 27 to August 3, 2023, an online survey was commissioned by RBC among 1,017 Canadian post-secondary students who are 18-24 years of age. All respondents were members of the online Angus Reid Forum. For comparison purposes only, a sample of this size would yield a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.