On World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, Fig Financial is drawing attention to the growing threat of financial fraud against older Canadians—and the role fintech can play in stopping scams before money changes hands.
The Montreal-headquartered financial services provider says it has developed Fig Shield, a proprietary machine learning model designed to identify loan applicants who may be under the influence of scammers. The tool analyzes applicant behaviour to flag patterns associated with known scam victims, allowing Fig’s fraud team to intervene earlier in the process.
The announcement comes as Canadians continue to lose significant sums to fraud. According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, Canadians lost at least $704 million to fraud in 2025, with only an estimated five to 10 per cent of scams ever reported. Older adults consistently report the largest losses of any age group, and fraud is now considered the number one crime against older Canadians.
Fig says its own loan application data gives the company a unique view into how scams unfold, including cases where victims are coached by fraudsters to apply for loans on their behalf. Borrowers aged 65 and older represent approximately 66 per cent of all scam cases identified and flagged by Fig.
The company’s internal findings also point to broader patterns. Baby Boomer applicants are about 75 times more likely to be scam victims than Gen Z applicants, while Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta show the highest scam rates in the country, at 1.5 times the rate of other provinces. Fig says nearly nine in 10 identified scam cases originate from urban applications, with victims most concentrated in the $40,000 to $50,000 income bracket.
“The heartbreak of these scams is that victims rarely know they’re being exploited until it’s too late, particularly vulnerable older adults,” said Ardalan Shojaei, General Manager of Lending at Fig Financial. “With Fig Shield, we can spot behavioural patterns of victims who have fallen prey to scams. This lets our fraud team proactively reach out to applicants, supporting to stop a bad situation in its tracks and fundamentally changing how fast we can protect people.”
According to Fig, high-risk “scam clusters” represent as little as eight per cent of daily applications, but surfacing those cases has helped the company significantly reduce manual review time and focus prevention efforts where they are most needed.
Law enforcement officials say early detection is especially important because scam losses are often impossible to recover once funds are transferred.
“The reality is that most of the money lost to these scams is never recovered, and seniors are disproportionately the targets,” said David Coffey, Detective with the Financial Crimes Unit at the Toronto Police Service. “Organized fraud networks are sophisticated, persistent, and increasingly hard to detect. When financial institutions can identify a potential victim at the point of application and intervene early, that’s one of the most effective tools we have for prevention.”
Coffey recently joined Fig’s new podcast to discuss scams and financial crime in Canada, including romance scams, investment scams, and grandparent scams that directly target seniors.
World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, recognized by the United Nations on June 15, is intended to raise awareness of the abuse and exploitation of older adults. Financial abuse remains one of the most common and underreported forms.
Fig is a Canadian digital financial services platform offering personal loans with clear terms and structured repayment. The company is backed by Fairstone Bank and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
Leave a Reply