More than 50 per cent of Canadian business owners surveyed by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) say they have experienced either attempted or successful fraud efforts in the past 12 months. 

More than 36 per cent of those businesses who fell victim to fraud suffered financial losses – $7,800, on average.

Of those surveyed, 90 per cent said they are also worried that the rise in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) will make fraud more sophisticated and harder to detect.

Most common fraud attempts 

The CFIB’s survey of 2,340 business owners conducted in August 2024 further found that email phishing, text and phone scams are the most common fraud attempts made on Canadian business owners. They add that the bigger the business, the more likely it is to experience fraud attempts.

Notably, finance, insurance and real estate sectors were among those most likely to report fraud attempts in the past year with 59 per cent of respondents in those sectors saying as much, followed by 57 per cent of respondents in the arts, recreation and information sectors who said the same. The number one impacted sector was transportation, with 61 per cent of business owners saying they have been the subject or target of fraud attempts in the past 12 months.

To combat fraud, half of those surveyed say they have implemented stricter verification processes for payments, 36 per cent have increased their cybersecurity investments and 32 have invested in enhanced employee training.