Spam complaints to CRTC on the increase from six months ago

The CRTC released its biannual report on Canada’s anti-spam legislation Monday. It found complaints had jumped from the numbers featured in last fall’s update. Between October 2022 and March 2023, there were over 176,706 filings with the commission’s spam reporting centre (SRC). Last reporting period only featured 159,101 complaints. The reasons why Canadians complain to the regulator revolve around lack of consent; deceptive marketing practices; the identification of the sender; software and malware, among others. The top five commercial and affiliate marketing complaints involved online shopping; food, drug, and health; business to business; software and technology; and home, auto and real estate. The top five phishing and scam complaints were private company impersonation; government impersonation; extortion scams; business email compromise or gift card scams; and advanced fee scams. As previously announced, the CRTC worked with regulators in Australia, Ireland, Hong Kong and the United States last year to find better ways to combat scams. This builds on the existing Unsolicited Communications Enforcement Network (UCENet). “The purpose of the UCENet is to promote international spam enforcement cooperation and address related issues, such as online fraud and deception, phishing and the spreading of computer viruses,” Steven Harroun, chief compliance and enforcement officer for the commission, said in a statement. The SRC itself was the victim of misappropriation of its name, the compliance officer revealed. “It’s important for Canadians to know that the CRTC only uses credible channels such as our official website and social media accounts to share information and to warn Canadians about phishing campaigns and scams,” he stated. “And that as a government agency, the CRTC does not send messages directly to devices.” Harroun reported on the regulator’s efforts to fight online harms at the International Institute for Communications Canadian Chapter meeting earlier this year. –Reporting by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca.

Spam complaints to CRTC on the increase from six months ago

News | June 5, 2023

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Spam complaints to CRTC on the increase from six months ago

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