GATINEAU — The CRTC today released a new report on its enforcement of Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation, which shows it received 159,101 complaints to the Spam Reporting Centre from April 1, 2022 to Sept. 30, 2022.
The report indicated around 5,066 of the complaints were submitted through the online form, while the remainder were submitted by email.
The sources of spam reported through the online form include email (57%), text message (32%) and instant message (2%). The rest (9%) were unspecified. (Please see chart above).
Among the reasons for complaint are lack of consent (47%), identification of sender (21%), deceptive marketing practices (19%), other (12%) and software and malware (2%). (Please see chart below.) Complaint levels were highest in August, according to the report.
For spam sent by text messages specifically, the report says 57% were phishing, 3% were affiliate marketing, 6% were scams, 13% were commercial and the remaining 20% were other/unknown.
The enforcement measures the Commission took in this time period include:
- Three warning letters
- 214 notices to produce
- Four undertakings
- One notice of violation
- Two preservation demands
- One decision
Since 2014, enforcement efforts have led to over $1.9 million payable. “Of this amount, approximately $1.1 million is from administrative monetary penalties and $685,000 from negotiated undertakings,” the report says.
For the full report, please click here.
Charts borrowed from the CRTC’s Enforcing Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation report.
