How to Stop or Prevent Financial Abuse
A Guide for Persons With Cognitive Disabilities
© 2025 Open Collaboration for Cognitive Accessibility
About This Guide
Who should read this guide?
People with cognitive disabilities should read this guide.
This guide will teach you about financial abuse.
This guide will also teach you what to do if you are being financially abused by someone else.
How this guide can help you.
This guide will explain what financial abuse is.
It will help you prevent financial abuse from happening to you.
It will also tell you how to stop being financial abused by someone, or what to do if you have been financially abused.
This guide will show you where to watch videos online to learn more about financial abuse.
What is financial abuse?
Watch these videos to learn about financial abuse. Click or tap the pictures below to watch the videos.
Financial Abuse Explained
What is financial abuse? Are you being financially abused? What are your legal rights?
What You Should Know About Financial Abuse
Don’t become a victim of financial abuse. Learn to spot the signs and protect your rights to your money.
Help Stop Financial Abuse
Financial abuse happens often to people with cognitive disabilities. Learn to avoid or stop it.
What you should know about financial abuse.
There are many different forms of financial abuse. This guide will help you understand what financial abuse looks like.
Learning about financial abuse can help you avoid it.
In Canada, financial abuse is against the law. Like you, all Canadians have the right to decide how to spend their own money.

If you are being financially abused, you may have many different feelings. Sometimes the person who is abusing you is a friend, a family member, or someone you know and trust. This can make you feel confused, worried, mad or sad.

You may feel helpless to stop financial abuse. Talking about financial abuse with someone you trust can let them help you stop it or prevent it from happening to you.
What financial abuse looks like.
There are many different forms of financial abuse. Here are some examples:
A person tries to steal your money.

A person lies to you to get your money.
A person forces you to buy things.
A person tricks you to give them money, or to buy things for them.
A person wants you to use your credit card to buy things for them, or to buy things you don’t want.
Or a person forces you to get a credit card to buy things for them, or to buy things you don’t want.

A person steals your pension or disability payment, or your tax return payment.
A person stops you from spending your money as you wish.
How to stop financial abuse.
If you think someone is financially abusing you or trying to financially abuse you, you can use your voice. Here are some examples:
A person asks you for money.
You can say this to the person:
I am sorry.
I am unable to help you.
Your friend asks you for money over and over again.
You can say this to your friend:
Please stop.
If you ask me for money again, I will have to stop seeing you.
Or you can say this to your friend:
Please stop.
If you ask me for money again, I will have to tell my social worker.
You can also speak about financial abuse to someone you trust.
They can help you stop or prevent financial abuse from happening to you.
Other ways to stop or prevent financial abuse.

If you live in a group home or share a home with others.
Speak with a manager.
Or speak with a support worker you trust.
They can help you.
Review your bank statements each month.
Make sure money wasn’t taken from your bank account without you knowing.
You can check your bank statements online.
Or you can go to the bank.
Ask for your bank statement at the bank.
You can ask a bank teller to help you with a statement.
Hire a lawyer or an attorney.
They can make legal decisions for you.
You can ask your attorney to help you with your money and finances.
Ask them to show you how much money is in your bank account.
Ask them about your legal right to spend your money.
Tell your attorney how you want to spend your money.
Tell them if someone is forcing you to buy things.
Tell them they must talk to you to for any decisions about your money.
Keep your banking information secret.
Your banking information is your bank account number, your bank or debit card number, your credit card numbers, and your banking PIN or Personal Identification Number.
You use a PIN to buy things with your debit or credit card.
You also use a PIN to access your bank account.
Don’t give your banking information by phone, by e-mail, by text message, or in person to someone you don’t trust.
If you are not sure you can trust the person, ask someone else that you do trust.
Call the police. The phone number is 9-1-1.
You can use a pay phone or cell phone to call the police.
Call the police if someone steals your money.
Or if someone forces you to take money out of your bank account, or from a bank machine.
You do not have to give your money to anyone if you don’t want to.
That is your right.
That is the law.
About the authors.

Dr. Virginie Cobigo
Virginie is the founder and Executive Director of Open Collaboration for Cognitive Accessibility. She is committed to promoting the social inclusion of people with cognitive disabilities and enhancing the cognitive accessibility of our environment. As a professor at the University of Ottawa, she leads research that supports evidence-based practice in sectors that support people with cognitive disabilities.

Golnaz Ghaderi
Golnaz is a PhD student in Clinical Psychology at the University of Ottawa. Her research aims to improve strategies to prevent financial abuse among persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She works under Professor Virginie Cobigo’s supervision.
About Open Collaboration for Cognitive Accessibility.
Open provides custom cognitive accessibility solutions, inclusive research and development, and education and training to researchers, and to public and private sector organizations including construction and trades, and banking and finance. Led by experienced Canadian researchers and world-leading authorities in cognitive disabilities and neuroinclusive research, our inclusive design team of neurodiverse experts leverage their lived experiences to deliver innovative solutions that help our clients assure greater accessibility and inclusion for people of all cognitive abilities.
This guide was produced with support from the Sinneave Family Foundation.
The Sinneave Family Foundation is an operating foundation dedicated to collaborating with individuals, communities, and organizations across Canada with a vision that people live, learn, work, and thrive in their communities, and realize their desired futures.