by AdvisorAnalyst Editorial Team
Canada's relationship with insurance fraud is getting complicated, and a new survey from Aviva and Nanos Research just put some real numbers behind the unease.
Here's the thing: when you ask Canadians what worries them most, cyber crime wins by a mile. Online scams and identity theft snagged 37.8% of first-place votes nationally, jumping to 46% in Quebec and 44.3% among people over 55. Auto theft trails at 15.7%, then home invasions at 12.1%, then flooding at 10.6%. Nothing else even cracks six percent.
Insurance fraud itself? Only 3.7% picked it as their top concern. But don't let that small number fool you, because the regional story underneath it is actually pretty interesting. In BC, fraud tops the list more than anywhere else in the country, at 4.8%. Meanwhile in Atlantic Canada, it barely registers, just 0.6%. Ontario, Quebec, and the Prairies land somewhere in the middle. And age flips the script too: younger Canadians, 25 to 34, are more than twice as likely as seniors to rank fraud as their biggest worry (6.4% versus 3.0%). It's almost like fraud is the concern you carry when you're newer to the system and still sizing it up.
Now, about the methodology. Nanos surveyed 1,569 Canadians between January 23rd and 27th, 2026, weighting the results by age and gender against 2021 Census data. It wasn't a probability sample, so technically no margin of error applies, but for comparison's sake, Nanos notes that a sample this size "would have a margin of error of ±2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20." Aviva Canada, which commissioned the research, insures 2.5 million Canadians and has been around, in one form or another, for over 325 years.
Here's where the survey gets its teeth: money. Nearly six in ten Canadians, 59%, say they're worried fraud is quietly padding their own premiums. Picture that as a slow leak in a tire. Nobody sees it happening day to day, but eventually you notice you're paying more to stay on the road. Older Canadians feel this leak the most, with 68.8% agreeing versus just 46.1% of those 25 to 34.
And they're frustrated about accountability too. A plurality, 43%, think penalties for fraud just aren't tough enough. Only 16% think the punishments fit. Again, older Canadians are the most skeptical, with 54.6% saying enforcement falls short, compared to 22.5% of younger respondents. So you've got a group that's paid into the system the longest, and they're the ones who trust it the least to police itself.
Then there's the personal fear layer, which is its own separate thing from "concern." More than two in five Canadians, 42%, say they're genuinely worried about becoming fraud victims themselves. And this is where the age story flips again: it's the 55-plus crowd who feel this most acutely, at 45.2%, versus 37.9% of the youngest group. Women report more worry than men too, 44.5% versus 39.1%.
So what does fraud actually look like to people? Not shadowy criminal masterminds, mostly. Staged vehicle collisions rank highest at 13.8%. But vehicle-repair fraud, the garage quietly padding an invoice, is right behind it, and it actually becomes the number-two threat when you look at second-choice picks, at 17.1%. Roofing and home-repair fraud shows up too. It's less Hollywood heist, more "someone you trusted took advantage of a routine transaction." And here's a telling detail: almost 30% of Canadians either couldn't name a fraud threat at all or said none applied to them. That's a lot of blind spots.
What This Means for Advisors and Investors
- The premium conversation writes itself. Nearly six in ten Canadians already suspect fraud is inflating their bills, so don't wait for clients to bring it up at renewal.
- Concern and fear aren't the same client. Younger clients worry about fraud in the abstract; older clients fear becoming victims personally. Different anxieties, different conversations.
- Where you live shapes how loud this is. BC clients care a lot; Atlantic Canada barely blinks. Calibrate accordingly.
- Fraud usually wears a work uniform, not a ski mask. Repair shops and contractors show up again and again in the data, more than staged crashes.
- A lot of people just don't know what fraud looks like. Nearly one in three couldn't name a threat. That's an opening for real client education.
Footnote:
1 Nanos Research. Unpacking Views on Fraud Insurance: National Survey Summary. Conducted for Aviva, 23–27 Jan. 2026, Submission 2026-2986, nanos.co/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2026-2986-Aviva-Populated-Report-Fraud.pdf.
