For the past several quarters, Amazon scams have ranked as the top phone fraud in Canada. But in Q1 2025, bank and credit card scams moved up to #1.
With these scams, fraudsters impersonate the largest banks and credit card companies in Canada. Commonly the caller will claim there has been a fraudulent charge, requesting account information to clear up the matter.
Amazon scams, which dropped to #2, use similar tactics as bank and credit card scams. Often the fraud begins with a robocall that states there has been a suspicious purchase on Amazon — usually a high-end item such as an iPhone. To dispute the purchase, the recipient is asked to press a number to speak to a representative, who will ply the victim for an Amazon account number or credit card information.
Findings come from Hiya’s Q1 2025 Global Call Threat Report, which measures phone spam in 40+ countries and details the top scams in 7 key countries.
Coming in #3 were insurance scams. These differed from insurance scams in other countries, however. In Canada, most Hiya users reporting calls about “insurance” had to do with fraudsters trying to obtain their Social Insurance Number, which is used to access government benefits. Typically the caller states that the individual’s Social Insurance Number has been suspended and the caller needs their current Social Insurance Number to clear up the matter.
Cryptocurrency and investment scams increased in Q1, moving from #7 last quarter to #4 this quarter. These scams, when successful, often result in high dollar losses.
Medical scams were #5. In the United States, most medical scams have to do with medical insurance, but in Canada, the most commonly reported medical scam involves a robocall offering a free medical alert system.
Chinese language scams have long been popular in Canada, and in Q1 they came in #6. These scams try to get Chinese speaking Canadians to pay fees for immigration violations. Incoming robocalls are spoken in Chinese only or in English and Chinese. Casting a wider net are general immigration scams, #8, with fraudsters pretending to be from bogus governmental agencies of all kinds.
After the busy holiday season, package delivery scams dropped from #3 last quarter to #7 in Q1.
Canadians average 6 unwanted calls per month
The Global Call Threat Report also measures the quantity of spam in countries around the world.
In Q1, residents of Canada received an average of 6 spam calls per person per month. That’s higher than the UK’s 4 calls per month, but much lower than the 17 per month experienced by citizens of the United States.
On the other hand, the proportion of the unwanted calls that are fraud is 8% in Canada, compared to 4% in the UK and 1% in the United States.
Get the full report
The Global Call Threat Report is a valuable resource for phone carriers, businesses and individuals. Use the report to compare phone spam in your own country with other countries in your region and other countries around the world. Read the report to discover:
- Top phone scams in US, UK, Canada, Spain, France, Germany and Brazil.
- Spam calls per person per month, and percentage fraud vs. nuisance, in 40+ countries.
- Spam call comparisons by region.
- Special section on AI-generated spam calls.
