Stop Scammers – Protect Seniors
Conservatives will protect seniors by cracking down on scammers that target them. We will ensure Canadian banks and telecom companies do a better job detecting scams, alerting victims before they are scammed, and reporting and blocking suspected fraud in real-time. WE will also increase fines and prison sentences for criminals who defraud vulnerable Canadians.
To do this, Conservatives will,
- Require mandatory scam detection systems for banks and cell phone companies, especially for high-risk accounts such as seniors over 65.
- Require real-time flagging and blocking of suspicious activity, including unusual or suspicious money transfers, repeated phishing text patterns, and robocall patterns—backed by heavy penalties for non-compliance.
- Create a Senior Transaction Shielding Protocol (STSP): a mandatory 24-hour transaction delay for high-risk transactions on seniors’ accounts–or on the accounts of anyone else who requests such protection–during which time a verification call and fraud check must occur.
- Mandate public reporting by banks and telcos on fraud prevention statistics, volume of scam data blocked, and customer reimbursements made.
- Impose a mandatory minimum one-year jail sentence for fraud over $5,000, three years for fraud over $100,000, five years for fraud over $1 million and minimum fines of ten times the amount defrauded.
- Impose penalties of up to $5 million per violation for willful neglect for failure to implement adequate scam prevention tools.
- Create a new Criminal Code offence of “willful blind profiteering from fraud,” targeting executives who ignore red flags and knowingly allow scam traffic or activity to continue.