Scams Awareness Escape Room
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) needed a fresh way to educate Canadians about scams. Our solution? Be Scam Smart: Canada’s first scam-awareness escape room.
Be Scam Smart
Challenge
Scams are on the rise in Canada, and they’re becoming harder to spot. From texts and emails to calls and letters, Canadians are constantly asked to separate what’s real from what’s suspicious. The challenge was clear: how do you cut through the skepticism and apathy to teach people about scams in a way that captures their attention and helps them remember?
Solution
The Be Scam Smart escape room brought scam education into the real world. Set in three familiar environments (a public transit stop, a kitchen, and a living room), Canadians navigated realistic scam attempts while managing everyday distractions. Throughout the escape room, participants were tested on their ability to distinguish between legitimate communications and fraud.
The hands-on activation turned fraud prevention into an educational experience that raised national awareness of scams targeting Canadians. Each participant left with a scorecard showing the scams they identified and the ones they missed. By turning fraud prevention into a live challenge, the activation gave Canadians lasting tools to protect themselves.
Results
The Be Scam Smart escape room exceeded expectations across every measure:
- 2,700+ participants across five Canadian cities (210% of benchmark)
- Over 55,000 impressions and nearly 90,000 word-of-mouth mentions
- 920 scam quizzes completed (188% of benchmark)
- Average engagement time of 8+ minutes per participant
- Coverage across national and local news outlets, sparking conversation on scam prevention nationwide
Due to overwhelming success, the program continued into 2024–25, helping Canadians sharpen their scam-identification skills and empowering them to stay safe against fraud.
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