By Greg O’Brien
OTTAWA – Even though Parliament was prorogued this week, the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, which has been studying the influx of fraud calls in Canada, including robocalls, ghost calls, and spam calls, all of which have increased during the Covid-19 crisis, had just enough time to send Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains a letter.
In that letter, the committee told the minister a full report on what it found this spring will be coming, but in the meantime, he and the CRTC need to take more immediate action. The RCMP told the committee fraud reports have increased by 25% during the pandemic.
“The evidence provided to the Committee shows that fraud calls continue to target Canadians. Supported by fraud call centres located overseas and easily accessible technologies, such as robocalls and spoofing, fraudsters have caused significant losses to their victims. Indeed, according to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, fraud calls account for $25 million of the $98 million lost to fraud in 2019. While any Canadian can fall victim to fraud calls, seniors, low-income households, and newer Canadians remain especially vulnerable,” reads the letter.
“Because of constantly evolving techniques and technology, authorities as well as telecommunications service providers (TSPs) and other stakeholders find it challenging to maintain up-to-date information on how fraudsters target and deliver fraud calls to Canadians. To fight fraud calls, witnesses highlighted the importance of supporting law enforcement through cooperation between international and national entities, raising public awareness, and implementing the STIR/SHAKEN framework as soon as possible – among other things.
“Time being of the essence, the federal government should act now by launching a public awareness campaign in Canadian local and national media to warn Canadians against Covid-19−related fraud.”
“Witnesses also drew the Committee’s attention to unauthorized porting, or ‘SIM-swap’ scams. The testimony suggests that fraudsters carry out SIM-swap scams by exploiting federal wireless number portability rules, which are meant to facilitate porting. Victims may have limited means to protect themselves once a TSP executes the porting.”
The letter from committee chair Sherry Romanado (Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne) continues: “The Covid-19 pandemic is putting lives and livelihoods at risk, and the Canadian economy in jeopardy. The federal government must prevent any further harm to Canadians. In the short term, increasing public awareness remains the most effective way to counter Covid-19−related fraud. Time being of the essence, the federal government should act now by launching a public awareness campaign in Canadian local and national media to warn Canadians against Covid-19−related fraud. While the RCMP has redirected resources to respond to Covid-19−related fraud, witnesses reiterated that increasing public awareness remains the most effective way to prevent fraud and protect Canadians.”
The letter goes on to say the federal government should help smaller telecom service providers to implement STIR/SHAKEN and that when it comes to protective technology all TSPs should charge customers “little to nothing” for those.
“Federal authorities as well as TSPs, financial authorities, and other stakeholders must tackle this emerging threat and quickly formulate countermeasures.”
