How to Safeguard Yourself Against Cybercrime

Cyber fraud has crept into our lives in such a steady way that you probably see these kinds of threats—posed as seemingly harmless (or urgent) messages—regularly.

In a Dec. 2023 survey by consumer credit agency TransUnion , 60 percent of Canadians said they had been targeted with online, email, phone or text fraud in the prior three months, of which 10 percent fell victim.1

Even if you think you can spot the most obvious cons, it’s important to stay vigilant against a rising threat of cybercrime that’s becoming more frequent, harder to detect and more carefully targeted to individual vulnerabilities.

Steps you can take to protect yourself and your family from potential cyber attacks:

  • Use multi-factor authorization to access accounts
  • Don’t reuse passwords – if you must, use a manager
  • Be cautious of what you and your family share online
  • Keep your computers, devices and networks up to date
  • Ignore calls, texts, and emails that ask for credentials

Cybercrime Article

What is a Trusted Contact Person

A Trusted Contact Person is someone you give us written consent to contact. We may contact them if we suspect you are being financially exploited, if we’re concerned about your ability to make decisions due to physical or mental incapacity, or if we’re unable to reach you.

Your Trusted Contact Person’s role is to provide or confirm information only – they do not have any authority over your account, cannot make decisions on your behalf, and will not be given access to your detailed account information. We will not ask your Trusted Contact Person for information unless we believe it’s absolutely necessary to help you.

You can appoint anyone you want as your Trusted Contact Person. However, we encourage you to select someone who is not already involved in making decisions with respect to your account. We recommend that you choose someone who, regardless of their age, is mature, knowledgeable about your personal situation, and familiar with your support network. They need to be capable of speaking to you, and us, about potentially difficult subjects, like concerns about diminishing mental capacity.

If you would like to name a Trusted Contact Person, please contact us.

Current Scam Alerts

Package Delivery Scams

During the holiday season, scammers are taking advantage of the high volume of deliveries to steal information from clients. We have observed fake text messages and emails pretending to be from Package Delivery/Courier Services, or RBC regarding a pending delivery.

1. Details of the scams:

Scammers are sending fake shipping notices from popular courier services. They are sending phishing SMS and emails claiming that the recipient has a parcel waiting but must pay a customs or rescheduling fee, which needs to be done online via the attached link. This link directs the recipient to a genuine-looking phishing site for the courier service, where they will be tricked into either entering their credit card or banking information.

2. What should you know:

Unless the client has signed up for SMS or email notices, popular couriers servicing Canada will inform recipients of missed deliveries by leaving a delivery notice at the customer’s door or in their mailbox.

Couriers will never complete any transactions via Interac e-Transfer.

3. What should you do?

Don’t click on links in email or text messages. Take care when clicking on any link, even those appearing at the top of search engine results. Float a cursor over the URL before you click or enter credentials.

Delete the email or text message immediately. Do not click on any unsolicited links that appear to be from courier services.

Hang up and call back. If you receive a call that sounds suspicious, hang up, and call back using the information available on the company’s website.

Be Aware of Phishing Messages Containing RBC and Other Bank Logos

What to look out for:

In previous Scam Alerts, we’ve discussed some tricky text-related methods that Fraudsters use to lure clicks, such as:

Replacing letters with numbers, other types of “lookalike” characters, or adding extra letters.

Hiding a phishing link behind a URL that looks like a legitimate RBC URL.

However, sometimes all it takes is the use of a familiar, “trusted” image (like the RBC logo) to get a victim to fall for the scam. Malicious messages may utilize bank logos or include image previews from their phishing websites to appear trustworthy, and the use of familiar logos can create a false sense of security – making it easier for unsuspecting individuals to fall victims to these scams.

What should you do?

Exercise caution. Remain vigilant about messages from unknown senders, even if the message contains RBC logos, or logos from other reputable brands.

Exercise caution when clicking any links. If you were not expecting a message from RBC or suspect that it is not a legitimate request, do not click on the link.

You can help us by forwarding the phishing email or attaching a screenshot of a fraudulent text message to phishing@rbc.com

Delete the email or text message immediately. If you receive a message you suspect to be spam, delete it immediately.