Tech Safety Canada

Digital Financial Abuse Toolkit

Tech Safety Canada has created this toolkit to provide women, youth, gender-diverse people, and frontline workers with information on preventing and addressing digital financial abuse. Digital financial abuse involves the misuse of technologies like online banking, finance apps, or other digital tools to exert power and control over survivors by their current or former partner. Digital financial abuse is a common and pressing concern for survivors of violence; 78% of shelter workers report that financial abuse commonly co-occurs with technology-facilitated violence.

Though the content of this toolkit is up to date at the time of publishing, we know that technology is constantly emerging and changing. We encourage you to regularly check for updated information and connect with your local shelter or transition house for additional support.

A Note on Language

In this toolkit, we will sometimes use the word woman/women and feminine pronouns for simplicity and to recognize the significant impact technology-facilitated violence has on women and girls. We recognize that TFGBV also impacts trans, non-binary, and Two-Spirit people. We hope that all people impacted by TFGBV will find these documents useful.

Word of Caution

This toolkit is available as read-only on this website with an option to download the PDF versions of each document. If you are reading this toolkit on a device that may be monitored by your abuser, do not download the PDF versions as they will automatically save in your downloads folder. If you think that someone is monitoring your phone, use a different device that the person cannot access (and that they have not had access to in the past), such as a computer at a library or a friend's phone. You can also use sheltersafe.ca to find a shelter/transition house near you to discuss options with an anti-violence worker.

Download Digital Financial Abuse Toolkit as PDF

This toolkit was created by Women’s Shelters Canada’s Tech Safety Canada Project and funded by TD Bank Group, through its corporate citizenship platform, the TD Ready Commitment.

This toolkit, or any portion thereof, may be reproduced or used as long as acknowledgement is included. If you would like to adapt the content, please contact Women’s Shelters Canada at techsafety@endvaw.ca

1. In this toolkit, we will sometimes use the word woman/women and feminine pronouns for simplicity and to recognize the significant impact technology-facilitated violence has on women and girls. We recognize that TFGBV also impacts trans, non-binary, and Two-Spirit people. We hope that all people impacted by TFGBV will find these documents useful.

2. Cahill, R.; Wong, R. & Hoogendam, R. (2024). “Insights Into Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence: A Survey of Women’s Shelters and Transition House Workers Across Canada.” Ottawa, ON: Women’s Shelters Canada.


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