Most Interac e-Transfer scams fall into two buckets: phishing (you click a fake link and the scammer drains your account, or intercepts a transfer) and social engineering (you knowingly send money to someone who turns out to be a scammer — fake CRA, romance fraud, fake job, fake rental). The two are treated very differently by banks and Interac.
If you were phished or your account was accessed
- Call your bank's fraud line immediately. Speed matters. The faster the bank locks the account, the better the chance of recovery.
- Change your online banking password, then change the password on the email account linked to your banking.
- Enable two-factor authentication on both your bank and your email.
- Ask your bank to file a fraud claim. Reimbursement for Interac e-Transfer fraud is handled bank by bank under your client agreement — not by a single Interac-administered program. Banks may reimburse interception fraud (where someone other than you intercepts the transfer) when the incident is found to be beyond your reasonable control.
- Report to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and your local police (you'll need a report number for some claims).
If you knowingly sent money to a scammer
This is harder. Banks generally consider transfers you authorized to be your responsibility, even if you were deceived. That said, you should still:
- Call your bank's fraud line. They may still attempt a reclaim if the receiving bank cooperates.
- Report to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
- File a local police report.
- If the scammer impersonated a known business, alert that business so they can warn other customers.
What banks typically refund vs. don't refund
Often refunded
- Phishing where the scammer accessed your bank without your authorization.
- Funds intercepted via security-question guessing on a non-Autodeposit recipient.
- Account takeover by malware.
Rarely refunded
- Romance scams.
- Investment scams ("crypto opportunity," "guaranteed returns").
- Job scams ("send us a deposit for equipment").
- Rental scams (paying first/last month for a unit that doesn't exist).
- Fake CRA, "police," or "Service Canada" scams demanding payment by e-Transfer.
The Canada Revenue Agency does not use Interac e-Transfer to send or receive payments directly. Any e-Transfer claiming to be from the CRA is a scam. (Some third-party services like PaySimply let you pay the CRA through Interac e-Transfer, but the CRA itself never sends or receives transfers directly.)
Common red flags going forward
- Unsolicited email asking you to click a link to deposit an e-Transfer (legitimate Interac emails are informational).
- Anyone insisting on payment by e-Transfer specifically because "it's faster" or "wires don't work."
- Any government, utility, or law-enforcement agency demanding payment by e-Transfer — none of them do this.
- Pressure to act fast, secrecy, or threats.