Is identity theft a crime in Canada?

Yes. Under section 402.2 of the Criminal Code , getting or holding someone's identity information to commit fraud carries up to five years in prison. Fraudulently pretending to be someone else, living or dead, is identity fraud under section 403 , and carries up to 10 years.

Do you need to pay for identity theft protection?

Not for anything on this page. An Equifax Fraud Alert is free for confirmed victims, the freeze is free at both bureaus in Quebec and Ontario, and both bureaus let you see your report online at no cost. Paid plans add extras like daily monitoring and insurance. If a company that lost your data offers free monitoring, accepting it costs nothing.

Identity Theft in Canada: What to Do and Who to Call

A credit card you never applied for shows up in the mail. Or a collection agency calls about a phone plan you’ve never had. That’s identity theft, and in Canada the fix starts with a few calls in the right order: your bank first, then Equifax and TransUnion for a fraud alert, then the police and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. After that, you deal with each piece of ID that was taken, from your SIN to your passport.

What should you do first if your identity is stolen?

The bank comes first because that’s where money can still leave today. The fraud alert comes next because it asks any new lender to check that it’s really you. Reports to the police and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) come last. Most steps are a phone call or an online form, and most cost nothing.

Call your bank, and any company where a fake account was opened

Use the number on the back of your card, not one from a text or an email. Tell the bank someone has your personal information and ask it to flag your accounts, which is what the CAFC tells identity fraud victims to do (opens in a new tab). Then change your passwords, starting with online banking and your email.

If an account was opened in your name, call that company’s fraud department yourself. Say it’s identity theft, ask it to close the account, and ask for a letter confirming it was closed as fraud. You’ll use that letter when you clean up your credit report. If money already left your account, getting it back depends on how it left, which we cover in how to get your money back after a scam.

Ask Equifax and TransUnion for a fraud alert

Canada has two credit bureaus, and you have to contact each one separately.

Equifax: call 1-800-465-7166 or use its online form. A confirmed victim can get a Fraud Alert (opens in a new tab), which is free and stays on your file for six years. Anyone can add an Identity Alert, which also lasts six years.
TransUnion: if your information was already misused, call its Fraud Victim Assistance Department at 1-800-663-9980 (1-877-713-3393 for service in French) to add a fraud statement, which stays on your file for six years. If nothing has been misused yet, add its Potential Fraud Alert (opens in a new tab) online, where it’s free for a limited time.

The alert protects you against new credit in your name, and fake card applications are rising. Equifax Canada found (opens in a new tab) that 0.91% of credit card applications in the second quarter of 2026 were fraudulent, up 8% in a year. People aged 56 to 65 were targeted most, and Quebec had the highest rate of applications made in someone else’s name.

Report it to the police and the CAFC

File a report with your local police, and ask for the case number plus the officer’s name and phone number. Your bank or card company may want them.

Then report it to the CAFC online or by phone (opens in a new tab) at 1-888-495-8501, weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Eastern. You’re far from the only one. Identity fraud was the most reported fraud in Canada in 2025 (opens in a new tab), with 8,403 reports, and the CAFC estimates (opens in a new tab) that only 5% to 10% of fraud gets reported at all.

Keep a record as you go

Write down every call: the date, who you spoke to, and any file or reference number. You’ll be asked for the same details more than once, and a log saves you from starting over each time.

Fraud alert or credit freeze: which one do you need?

A fraud alert asks lenders to confirm it’s really you before they approve credit, and anyone in Canada can get one. A credit freeze goes further. The bureaus won’t share your file with a new lender at all until you lift it. Only Quebec and Ontario residents can freeze their files, and it’s free in both provinces.

	Fraud alert	Credit freeze
Who can get one	Anyone in Canada	Quebec and Ontario residents
What it does	Asks lenders to check it’s you	New lenders can’t see your file
How long it lasts	Six years	Until you remove it
If you apply for credit	The lender may call you	You lift or remove it first

In Quebec, both are free

According to the Autorité des marchés financiers (opens in a new tab), Quebec residents can freeze their credit file for free, without giving a credit card number. A security alert is free too. It tells anyone using your file to check that it’s really you, and you give a phone number when you add it. You can also see your report and score online at no cost.

In Ontario, the freeze is new

Equifax made its freeze, Credit Lock, available in Ontario on July 1, 2026 (opens in a new tab), and both bureaus offer the freeze for free. Under Ontario’s rules (opens in a new tab), a bureau has 2 business days to place it if you ask online, 5 if you call and 15 if you write.

One limit lasts until July 1, 2027. Until then, you can’t lift an Ontario freeze for a few days while you apply for a loan. You remove it and place it again afterwards. Ontario also lets a bureau charge up to $5 for an alert, though Equifax’s Fraud Alert is free for victims.

Everywhere else, you can add an alert

Outside Quebec and Ontario, neither bureau offers a freeze yet. British Columbia has passed a law (opens in a new tab) that will let residents freeze their files for free starting in August 2027. An alert still asks every lender to check it’s you. If you live in Manitoba, Equifax says its Identity Alert requires lenders to call you before they approve credit, the same as in Ontario.

What if your SIN or other ID was stolen?

Each document goes to a different office: the CRA for your tax account, IRCC for your passport and your province for your driver’s licence. A stolen SIN is the exception, because you report it to the police, the CAFC and both bureaus, not to Service Canada.

What was taken	Who to contact	Good to know
Social Insurance Number	Police, CAFC, both bureaus	No new SIN without proof of fraud
CRA account or tax details	CRA, 1-833-995-2336	It can protect your account during the call
Quebec tax file	Revenu Québec, 1-800-267-6299	It can add protection to your file
Passport	IRCC, 1-800-567-6868	Cancelled, even if you find it later
Driver’s licence	Your province’s licence office	In Ontario, report it to police first
Government benefits	That program, such as EI	Report it there to stop the payments
Your mail	Canada Post	If it stops, ask whether it was redirected

Your SIN: a new number usually isn’t the answer

Service Canada (opens in a new tab) tells you to report SIN fraud to the police, the CAFC, both credit bureaus, your bank and any creditor involved. If someone used your SIN to collect government benefits, such as Employment Insurance, report it to that program directly to stop the payments.

A new SIN is possible, but only with proof that yours was used to commit fraud, and you have to apply in person at a Service Canada Centre. Even then it isn’t guaranteed, and Service Canada doesn’t recommend it. A new number doesn’t erase the old one or protect it from future misuse, and having more than one can raise your fraud risk.

Your CRA account

If someone signed in to your CRA account, changed your direct deposit or filed a return in your name, call the CRA’s Identity Protection Services at 1-833-995-2336 (TTY 1-800-267-7622). The CRA says it can place protections on your account during the call (opens in a new tab). For changes you didn’t make, or a notice for a return you didn’t file, it also takes form RC213 (opens in a new tab), which you send by fax to 1-833-635-2482.

Quebec residents should call Revenu Québec (opens in a new tab) too, so it can add protection to their provincial file. The weekday line is 1-800-267-6299 (514-864-6299 in the Montréal area, 418-659-6299 in the Québec City area), and 1-855-654-7693 takes calls evenings and weekends. Have your SIN and two recent Revenu Québec documents in front of you.

Your passport or driver’s licence

For a lost or stolen passport (opens in a new tab), call IRCC at 1-800-567-6868 from Canada or the US. It cancels the passport (opens in a new tab) and adds it to a police database that border services can check, so nobody can travel on it, including you if it turns up later. You’ll fill out a declaration (form PPTC 203) when you replace it.

Your province replaces your driver’s licence (in Quebec, that’s the SAAQ). In Ontario, ServiceOntario (opens in a new tab) asks you to report a stolen licence to the police right away, then replace it in person for $35.75.

What if your wallet was stolen or your ID was in a data breach?

If nothing has been used yet, you’re protecting yourself rather than cleaning up. Cancel the cards, replace the ID and add an alert now. Equifax’s Identity Alert is open to anyone, with no fraud needed first. In Quebec or Ontario, a free freeze protects you more.

On September 21, 2026, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner announced an investigation (opens in a new tab) into a breach at IDScan.net, a company whose ID-checking technology is used by hospitality and nightlife businesses. The breach included digital scans of driver’s licences and other ID. If a company tells you your ID was in a breach like that one, take the same steps as for a lost wallet.

If your SIN was in a breach, Service Canada asks you to watch your personal and financial information closely for anything you didn’t do. A text or call that uses your real name can still be a scam, so check it the way you’d check a CRA text before you tap anything.

How do you clean up your credit report after identity theft?

Get your report from both bureaus, mark every account and credit check you don’t recognize, and dispute each one with the bureau that shows it. Then ask the lender behind each fake account to close it and correct what it reported. Both bureaus let you see your report online for free.

TransUnion lets you check yours online once a month. In Ontario, you have a legal right to dispute (opens in a new tab) what’s on your file. The bureau has to look into it, and anything it can’t verify must be corrected or deleted. You can also ask it to send the correction to anyone who checked your file recently. Back up each dispute with your police case number, and the lender’s letter if you have one.

Keep checking for a while afterwards. A free credit score app can show you one bureau’s file between your own checks, which makes a new account easier to spot.

After the cleanup, a reason to keep saving

Sorting out identity theft takes a lot of calls, forms and checking. Once it’s behind you, it’s nice to have something good to look forward to.

Lodavo is a free app that makes saving more rewarding. It works with the savings or chequing account you already use, and the bigger your balance, the more tickets you get in a weekly draw for cash prizes up to $10,000. Lodavo never sees or stores your bank login.

Download Lodavo free on the Apple App Store (opens in a new tab) or Google Play Store (opens in a new tab) and start earning tickets for this week’s draw.

Terms and conditions apply. No purchase necessary (alternate method of entry available). Skill-testing question required. Open to legal residents of Canada who are the age of majority. Odds depend on the number of eligible entries received. Full rules and odds at our contest rules.