Artificial Intelligence and Cybersafety

Reading time: about 7 minutes │ Topic: AI scams, deepfakes, voice cloning │ Sources: Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, CBC News Marketplace, TELUS Wise

Why AI changes everything

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping how criminals commit fraud against Canadians. The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security warns that AI has "complicated" the threat landscape because generative AI tools allow attackers to create realistic text, audio, video, and images at scale, with very little technical skill required. [1]

In June 2025 the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security issued a joint advisory about a malicious campaign using text and AI-generated voice messages that impersonated senior officials and prominent public figures to steal money and information from Canadians. The FBI had issued a similar warning in April 2025 about the same kind of activity in the United States. [2]

TELUS Wise reports that 27 percent of Canadian consumers have already received a deepfake fraud call, with average reported losses of $1,479 per victim. AI scams overall surged by an estimated 148 percent in 2025. [3]

How fraudsters are using AI against Canadians

AI voice cloning. Free or low-cost tools can clone a person's voice from just a few seconds of recorded audio pulled from a podcast, voicemail, Instagram reel, or TikTok.. [4]
Deepfake video. Deepfake video can place a real person's face onto another body, or generate entirely synthetic video of them. [5]
AI-written phishing. Generative AI eliminates the classic warning signs of a scam email. The old advice to "look for spelling and grammar mistakes" is no longer reliable. AI now produces perfectly written, on-brand emails that mimic a bank's exact tone, formatting, and even timing. [6]
Fake investment ads with celebrity deepfakes. Fraudulent social media ads now use deepfaked images and videos of Canadian celebrities, business leaders, and politicians appearing to endorse cryptocurrency or trading platforms.
AI-powered romance and pig butchering. Fraud rings now use AI chatbots trained on romance novels to maintain dozens of simultaneous fake relationships, available 24 hours a day. [7]
Synthetic identities and document forgery. AI tools can generate convincing fake driver's licences, utility bills, and even matching selfies for ID verification. [5]

Warning Signs

The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and CBC News Marketplace describe these signs that something may be AI-generated: [5] [4]

RED FLAGS TO WATCH FOR:

An unexpected voice call from a loved one in distress demanding immediate money, often in gift cards, e-Transfer, or cryptocurrency.
A video call where the person's face does not quite sync with their voice, or where lighting and shadows look unnatural around the edges of the face.
Eyes that do not blink normally, hair that flickers, hands or fingers that look distorted.
A celebrity or executive in an ad telling you about a "guaranteed" investment opportunity.
An online romantic partner whose photos look too perfect, who refuses unscripted live video, or whose messages arrive at impossible speeds.
A phishing email or text that is grammatically perfect but still asks you to click, log in, or move money quickly.
A "wrong number" text that quickly becomes a friendly conversation and eventually steers toward investment or cryptocurrency.

A Real Example

CBC News Marketplace documented Marilyn Crawford, a Canadian grandmother who received an early-morning call from someone pretending to be a local police officer telling her that her grandson had been arrested for stealing a car. During the call, what sounded exactly like her grandson came on the line, pleading with her for help. The scammer even sent a taxi to take her to the bank to withdraw $9,000. [4]

A bank teller became suspicious of the story and intervened. Marilyn did not lose her money, but the call illustrates how convincing AI voice cloning has become. The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security has warned in its 2024 threat assessment that "scammers may use deepfake voices or videos to impersonate a victim's family member, friend, or other trusted individual." [4]

What To Do

The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security's Top 10 AI Security Actions advises individuals and organizations to treat all voice and video signals as untrusted until verified. Practical steps for adults: [5]

Create a family safe word. Agree on a word or short phrase that only your family knows. If you receive an emergency call asking for money, ask for the safe word. No real loved one will hesitate.
Hang up and call back. If a caller claims to be a family member, a bank, the CRA, the RCMP, or your employer, hang up and call them back on a number you already know is real.
Verify in a second channel. If you get a voice message or text from a friend asking for an e-Transfer, confirm it in person, on video, or through a different app first.
Limit what voice and video you post publicly. The shorter the public sample of your voice and face, the harder it is to clone you. Consider setting Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook accounts to private.
Question celebrity endorsements. Never invest based on a social media ad or video alone. Verify investment offers through the Canadian Securities Administrators' aretheyregistered.ca.
Slow down. AI fraud almost always relies on urgency. The RCMP's standard guidance is to pause, take ten minutes, and verify before sending money or sharing information.
Use multi-factor authentication and passkeys everywhere (Article 3). Even if your password or voice is cloned, MFA or a passkey can stop an attacker from logging in.

On the horizon: quantum computing

Quantum computers use the principles of quantum physics to solve problems that today's computers cannot. The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security warns that a sufficiently powerful quantum computer could one day break much of the cryptography that protects online banking, email, passwords, and messaging apps. [9]

Today's quantum computers are not yet powerful enough to do this, but criminals and hostile states do not need to wait. Security experts call the strategy "harvest now, decrypt later": steal encrypted data today, store it, and decrypt it years from now when the technology matures. Information with a long shelf life (health records, financial records, and identity details) is the biggest concern.

There is no consumer action you need to take today. New post-quantum cryptography standards published by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology in 2024 are already being adopted behind the scenes by browsers, banks, and government services. The reason we mention quantum here is awareness: it is an emerging cybersecurity issue that will quietly affect the tools every Canadian relies on. [9]

Remember This (Canadian Centre for Cyber Security)

Treat all voice and video signals as untrusted until verified. AI can fake a familiar voice in seconds and a familiar face in minutes. The two strongest defences are a family safe word and the habit of hanging up and calling back on a known number. [5]

References

[1] Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, Cyber security guidance for democratic institutions: artificial intelligence (ITSAP.00.135). https://www.cyber.gc.ca/en/guidance/cyber-security-guidance-democratic-institutions-artificial-intelligence-itsap00135

[2] Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, Joint Advisory: Cyber officials warn Canadians of malicious campaign to impersonate high-profile public figures, June 23, 2025. https://antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/news-nouvelles/2025/2025-06-23-eng.htm

[3] TELUS Wise, Who is really calling? The rise of AI voice cloning scams. https://www.telus.com/en/wise/resources/content/article/who-is-really-calling-the-rise-of-ai-voice-cloning-scams

[4] CBC News Marketplace, Her grandson's voice said he was under arrest. This senior was almost scammed with suspected AI voice cloning, March 20, 2025. https://www.cbc.ca/news/marketplace/marketplace-ai-voice-scam-1.7486437

[5] Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, Top 10 artificial intelligence security actions: A primer (ITSAP.10.049). https://www.cyber.gc.ca/en/guidance/top-10-artificial-intelligence-security-actions-primer-itsap10049

[6] Techsoma, From Phishing To Deepfakes: How Canadian Fraudsters Use Technology In 2025. https://techsoma.ca/ai-powered-fraud-in-canada-2025/

[7] Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, Warning on crypto and romance frauds, May 28, 2024. https://antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/news-nouvelles/2024/2024-05-28-eng.htm

[8] Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, Generative artificial intelligence (ITSAP.00.041). https://www.cyber.gc.ca/en/guidance/generative-artificial-intelligence-ai-itsap00041

[9] Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, Preparing your organization for the quantum threat to cryptography (ITSAP.00.017). https://www.cyber.gc.ca/en/guidance/preparing-your-organization-quantum-threat-cryptography-itsap00017

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