What Is Fig Shield? How Fig Uses Technology to Help Protect Canadians from Scams
Financial scams continue to evolve, becoming more sophisticated and harder to detect. From investment scams to impersonation fraud, scammers often use urgency, pressure, and convincing stories to target vulnerable individuals.
At Fig, protecting borrowers is an important part of responsible lending. That's why Fig developed Fig Shield, an in-house technology designed to help identify applicants who may be at risk of being targeted by scams.
What Is Fig Shield?
Fig Shield is a proprietary fraud-prevention technology developed by Fig.
Using an unsupervised machine learning model, Fig Shield analyzes applicant behaviour and looks for patterns that may indicate someone is being targeted by an organized scam. Rather than relying solely on traditional fraud checks, the system identifies behavioural signals that are commonly associated with scam victims.
When an applicant's activity matches known scam-related patterns, Fig Shield alerts Fig's fraud team so they can review the application and intervene when appropriate.
The goal is simple: help identify potential scam victims before they unknowingly take on debt as part of a fraudulent scheme.
How Does Fig Shield Work?
Fig Shield analyzes behavioural patterns throughout the application process and compares them against known scam-related behaviours.
The system looks for indicators that may suggest an applicant has become involved in a scam or is acting under the direction of a third party.
When these indicators are detected, the application may be flagged for additional review.
This allows Fig's fraud specialists to:
Review applications more efficiently
Focus attention on higher-risk situations
Reach out to applicants when additional verification is needed
Help prevent loans from being used in scam-related activity
By automating the identification of potential scam patterns, Fig Shield significantly reduces the amount of time spent manually searching for warning signs and allows the fraud team to focus on prevention efforts.
Why Scam Prevention Matters
Scams can affect anyone, but some groups face a higher risk.
Based on Fig Shield data:
Over 2 thirds of identified scam victims were of age 65 and above.
Applicants aged 55–64 represented almost a fifth of scam-related cases.
Certain regions of Canada, particularly the Prairies, have shown higher rates of scam-related activity.
These findings reinforce the importance of proactive fraud prevention and ongoing financial education.
As more Canadians manage their finuse thiances online, concerns about fraud remain widespread. According to the Fig Financial Barometer, 68% of Canadians express concern about financial fraud when using online or digital financial services.
Stopping the Loan Doesn't Always Stop the Scam
One important reality of scam prevention is that stopping a loan does not always prevent financial loss.
Many scam victims have already transferred funds, shared sensitive information, or taken other actions before a scam is detected.
However, identifying potential scam victims during the lending process creates an opportunity to intervene, ask additional questions, and potentially prevent further financial harm.
In 2025, Fig prevented approximately 80% of known scam cases through human intervention helping prevent many borrowers from taking on loans connected to suspected scam activity.
Common Warning Signs of Financial Scams
While scammers use many different tactics, some warning signs appear repeatedly:
Pressure to act immediately
Promises of guaranteed returns or profits
Requests to borrow money for an investment opportunity
Instructions to keep the situation secret from family or friends
Requests to transfer money through unusual methods
Claims that someone else will be responsible for repaying a loan
If something feels rushed, confusing, or too good to be true, it's worth taking additional time to verify the situation.
Combining Technology With Human Review
Technology alone cannot stop every scam.
Fig Shield is designed to support, not replace, human judgment. When the system identifies potential concerns, Fig's fraud team reviews the application and can provide additional support where needed.
This combination of technology and human expertise helps Fig respond more quickly to potential scams while continuing to provide a straightforward borrowing experience for legitimate applicants.
Moving Forward Safely
As financial scams become increasingly sophisticated, prevention requires both awareness and action.
Tools like Fig Shield help identify patterns that may otherwise go unnoticed, allowing fraud specialists to intervene sooner and focus their efforts where they can have the greatest impact.
While no system can eliminate scams entirely, proactive detection, education, and human review can play an important role in helping Canadians protect themselves from financial fraud.
DISCLAIMER: This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal or financial advice.
