CRTC hosts international counterparts to fight scams

The CRTC hosted an in-person meeting with its counterparts in Australia, Ireland, Hong Kong and the United States to find better ways to combat scam communications. “Hosted by the CRTC, the Combating Scam Communications meeting was an opportunity to share their strategic insights on current initiatives and cross-border enforcement challenges. The participants also explored opportunities for greater international collaboration to disrupt scam communications,” the regulator wrote in a Tuesday release. Fraud has been on the rise in Canada, according to the RCMP. In 2021, the RCMP detected a 130 per cent increase in fraudulent communications perpetrated against Canadians, resulting in some $379 million in losses. The meeting builds on work done through the Unsolicited Communications Enforcement Network (UCENet) – a bilateral relationship with global regulatory agencies to address online fraud and deception, phishing and the spreading of viruses. The meeting precedes the International Regulators Forum and International Institute of Communications’ Annual Conference held in Ottawa this week. The CRTC has embarked on a number of efforts to combat scams. Earlier this year a commission investigation led to the take down of the Dark Web Marketplace known as CanadianHQ. The investigation led the CRTC’s Chief Compliance and Enforcement Officer Steven Harroun to issue administrative monetary penalties totalling $300,000 to four Canadians and resulted in the shutdown of CanadianHQ which, according to the commission, was “one of the largest dark web marketplaces of its kind in the world.” The marketplace specialized in the sale of goods and services, including spamming services, phishing kits, stolen credentials, and access to compromised computers, which were used by purchasers to engage in a variety of malicious activities. Last year the commission also gave BCE Inc. approval to make permanent a call blocking system which uses artificial intelligence (AI), saying that “the significant benefits of Bell Canada et al.’s call-blocking system in protecting Canadians from the harm associated with fraudulent calls, as well as protecting the telecommunications network in general, overwhelmingly outweighs the concerns raised, including in particular the low to non-existent risk of having legitimate calls blocked.” In doing so, the regulator declined to establish a regulatory regime governing the use of the technology, as requested by TekSavvy Solutions Inc.

CRTC hosts international counterparts to fight scams

Brief | November 1, 2022

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CRTC hosts international counterparts to fight scams

Brief | November 1, 2022

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