Fraud is evolving — fast. Attacks are more sophisticated, more frequent and harder to detect. In 2024 alone, Canadians lost over $648 million to fraud, and more than half now say fraud concerns impact how and where they pay. That’s why fraud prevention can’t be an add-on: it needs to be built into every payment. Our Enterprise Fraud Management (EFM) system is embedded directly into our payments products. Powered by real-time intelligence from our client network and guided by a team with deep industry expertise, it detects and stops fraud before it hits — delivering stronger results than comparable solutions in the Canadian market.
From January to March 2025, Central 1’s EFM system successfully detected and stopped 62 per cent of all fraudulent Interac e-Transfer® transactions across 209 financial institutions. Even more encouraging, we did this while keeping false alarms (or “false positives”) low — averaging just 2.7 alerts for every real fraud case. Yes, one in three suspicious alerts is real fraud.
Fraud attempts spiked in March, increasing 20 per cent over the previous three-month average. But even with that rise, our systems caught more fraud than ever — stopping nearly two-thirds (64.62 per cent) of fraudulent Interac e-Transfer payments.
Wire payments were another success story. In the first quarter, we stopped $425,000 in fraudulent wire payments across our credit union members — catching 60 per cent of fraud attempts with minimal disruption – only 278 transactions flagged across 206 financial institutions, out of more than 78,000 wire payments on behalf of our clients.
Biggest issues
What were the most common fraud types? Account Takeovers, Buyer-Seller Scams and Investment Loan Scams, with Account Takeovers resulting in the biggest impact, at 28 per cent of cases. However, scams combined are increasing and becoming the biggest challenge for Canadians.
Spotlight standouts
Many of our clients took Fraud Month to heart and showed how a focus on fraud prevention can protect and benefit their members (consumers). There were a few individual credit unions who had a standout performance:
100%
A mid-sized Ontario credit union blocked 100 per cent of fraudulent Interac e-Transfer attempts with a 4.4:1 false positive rate
100%
A small BC-based credit union achieved 100 per cent fraud prevention two months running with an extremely rare 0.6:1 false positive rate
67%
A large credit union stopped 67 per cent of fraud attempts with just a 1.2:1 false alert rate, showing an efficient use of resources
63%
Another mid-sized BC credit union prevented 63 per cent of Interac e-Transfer fraud with a 1.9:1 false positive rate
Enabled by Central 1’s EFM platform and powered by our highly experienced Fraud Analytics team, these results clearly show the benefits of working together using smart tools and technology. And, of course, as the consortium of EFM clients grows, EFM becomes stronger. With every new data point, it becomes better at spotting new types of fraud — and not just in Interac e-Transfer and wires.
Next up: Cheques.
A more traditional payment method, this transaction type remains popular — especially among small businesses. In mid-March, we started monitoring remote deposit cheques through EFM, tracking behaviours and patterns to prepare for fraud detection. Over 1,000,000 individual items have been integrated into EFM — giving us a strong head start in building out this next layer of protection.
Looking to strengthen your fraud prevention?
Our fraud experts can help you uncover areas to refine your approach or identify new capabilities that align with your goals.
