OTTAWA — The federal government’s upcoming budget will include plans for a new Financial Crimes Agency designed to improve Canada’s ability to tackle online scams, money laundering and other types of fraud, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced Monday.

In the latest in a series of pre-budget announcements, Champagne said Ottawa will take “bold action” in establishing the new agency because Canadians are besieged with a growing array of financial scams, including fake emails, ghost texts, phishing links, masked voiceover calls and other forms of fraud.

The new organization, first identified as a need about five years ago, will use a whole-of-government approach to specialize in fighting sophisticated plots and schemes, some of which are perpetrated by organized crime.

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