CRTC reports continued increase in spam complaints

Complaints filed with the CRTC’s Spam Reporting Centre (SRC) are on the rise, according to the commission’s latest biannual report on Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL), released Wednesday. Between October 2023 and March 2024, the SRC received over 216,800 complaints, marking a 2.86 per cent increase from the previous reporting period, which saw over 210,772 complaints. The CRTC noted that only 4,705 of the complaints, or two per cent, were submitted using the SRC’s online form. The rest were filed via email. Filings via the online form allow for more detailed information to be gathered, said the CRTC, and were used to compile statistics about the nature of each complaint. Over half of complaints were related to lack of consent, while about a third were either due to deceptive marketing practices or the identification of the sender. The rest of the complaints were due to malware and other unspecified reasons. The top five categories of commercial complaints pertained to online shopping; business-to-business marketing; food, drug and health; software and technology; and leisure and gambling. Phishing and scam complaints were dominated by private company impersonation, followed by government impersonation, employment scams, advanced fee scams, and bank impersonation. According to the report, 75 per cent of complaints were about email spam, 22 per cent were about SMS text messages. The CRTC highlighted a notable penalty of $40,000 it issued last October against a Quebec resident involved in a large-scale phishing campaign. The commission’s investigation found over 30,000 phishing texts were sent, masquerading as reputable brands and aiming to illicitly gather sensitive information. Additionally, the CRTC noted recent efforts to detect malicious QR codes in the spam complaints it receives. According to the report, 432 QR codes were associated with complaints submitted, 49 of which were confirmed threats.

CRTC reports continued increase in spam complaints

Telecom | May 15, 2024

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CRTC reports continued increase in spam complaints

Telecom | May 15, 2024

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