Canada's emergency scam moved from the phone to the text message
Between 2021 and 2025 the share of Canadian emergency scam reports arriving by text message rose from 1.2% to 17.7%, while the telephone's share fell from a peak of 71% to 56%. Losses through the text channel went from C$7,300 in 2021 to C$371,504 in 2024. The scheme did not change; its delivery did, and the change carries a different victim and a different defence.
- Year
- 2025
- Where
- Canada
- Outcome
- Ongoing
- Reported loss
- $145,144
- Victims
- 49
- Schemes
- "Hi Mum" and family impersonation texts, Grandparent and family emergency scams
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-06
The facts, as recorded
- Text message share of Canadian emergency scam reports: 1.2% in 2021, 1.7% in 2022, 8.4% in 2023, 16.6% in 2024, 17.7% in 2025 to 29 September.
- Direct telephone calls fell from 71.4% of reports in 2023 to 56.3% in 2025.
- Reported losses through text message: C$7,300 in 2021, C$51,870 in 2022, C$296,138 in 2023, C$371,504 in 2024, C$202,911 in 2025 to 29 September.
- In 2024 the text channel carried 16.6% of reports and 11.3% of the C$3.27m in losses — a smaller average loss than the telephone version.
- Total Canadian emergency scam reports fell from 2,573 in 2023 to 1,249 in 2024, so the text share rose while the absolute count fell.
- The category is the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre's own "Emergency (Jail, Accident, Hospital, Help)", which covers both the grandparent and "Hi Mum" forms.
Why this case matters
Same scheme, same category, same country. Only the channel changed — and it changed by a factor of fifteen in four years.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre records how each report reached the victim, and for its Emergency category the answer used to be overwhelmingly “a telephone call”. In 2021, 13 of 1,110 reports came by text. In 2025, 91 of 513 did.
The numbers
| Year | Reports | By text | Text share | By phone | Phone share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,110 | 13 | 1.2% | 509 | 45.9% |
| 2022 | 2,534 | 44 | 1.7% | 1,708 | 67.4% |
| 2023 | 2,573 | 217 | 8.4% | 1,838 | 71.4% |
| 2024 | 1,249 | 207 | 16.6% | 837 | 67.0% |
| 2025* | 513 | 91 | 17.7% | 289 | 56.3% |
* 1 January to 29 September 2025.
Note what happened between 2023 and 2024: total reports halved, and the text count barely moved. The collapse was in the telephone version. The text version held.
Why the channel matters more than it looks
A phone call requires a person, in real time, doing an impression. It is expensive, it does not scale, and it fails on the first specific question.
A text requires none of that. One operator runs hundreds of conversations, there is no voice to scrutinise, and the pretext — a new number, a lost phone — explains in advance why the message does not sound like the person it claims to be.
That difference shows up in the money. In 2024 the text channel produced 16.6% of reports but 11.3% of the losses: more attempts, each worth less. The telephone version is the one that takes life savings, and the text version is the one that takes a few hundred dollars from many more people.
What it changes for a reader
The defence people have been taught — listen carefully, ask a question only the real person could answer — was designed for a voice on a line. Against a text it does nothing, because the impostor has as long as they need to answer and can simply say they will explain later.
The defence that survives the channel change is the one both the ACCC and the CAFC give: contact the person on the number you already have. It tests the only claim the message actually makes.
Sources
- Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre Fraud Reporting System Dataset. Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre / RCMP. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: All report counts, victim counts, loss totals and contact-method breakdowns for the Emergency category, 2021–2025.
- ACCC warning of suspicious messages as "Hi Mum" scams spike. Scamwatch / ACCC, Australia. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: The Australian family impersonation figures used for comparison.
- Top text scams of 2024. US Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Protection Data Spotlight. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: US context on the growth of text-initiated fraud over the same period.