My Elderly Parent Sent Money to a Scammer — What to Do Now

1. Contact the bank or service the money moved through

Call the bank, credit union, or money transfer service right away and tell them it was fraud. If it went by e-transfer or wire, ask if it can still be recalled or frozen — this window closes fast, so this is the first call, before anything else.

2. Call local police

File a report with local police and get a file number. You'll want this reference number for the bank, for credit bureaus, and for any insurance or follow-up questions later.

3. Report it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre

Report online at reportcyberandfraud.canada.ca or call 1-888-495-8501 (Monday to Friday, 10am to 4:45pm Eastern). This does not recover the money directly, but it feeds the intelligence used to shut scam operations down and warn others.

4. If any personal information was shared

If a SIN, banking details, or account passwords were given out along with the money, place a fraud alert with both of Canada's credit bureaus — Equifax and TransUnion — and change any passwords that may have been exposed. If it involved a CRA-related scam specifically, you can also confirm your account status directly with the CRA at 1-800-959-8281.

Watch for the second scam: fake recovery services

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre specifically warns that fraud victims are often targeted a second or third time, this time by someone offering to help recover the money that was lost — for an upfront fee. This is almost always a follow-on scam. Never send money to anyone who contacts you promising to get your money back.

Talking to your parent about it

Scammers count on shame keeping people quiet, which is exactly why they tell victims not to tell anyone in the first place. Whatever happened, your parent was targeted by someone running a well-practiced script — the goal now is making the next call safer, not relitigating this one.

Recognize it before it happens again

Know what the next attempt might look like:

• The grandparent scam script
• The bank investigator scam
• CRA scam texts