FTC, Canadian Law Enforcement Agencies Cooperate On Public Outreach To Combat Cross-Border Fraud

The agencies make up a working group of law enforcement agencies, known as the Quebec Strategic Partnership, who partner to identify and combat cross-border fraud, such as imposter, investment, and prize winnings scams. The partnership’s collaboration includes sharing intelligence, complaints, and other relevant material, and providing investigative assistance.

Along with the FTC, the partnership also includes the Canada Competition Bureau, the partnership’s current chair, as well as the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Secret Service, Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, Canada Post, Canada Revenue Agency, and several local police departments in Quebec.

In addition to cooperating on enforcement, the partnership’s participants are coordinating on initiatives and consumer education aimed at preventing consumers from being scammed. This includes boosting outreach to local community groups such as those that serve immigrants and small businesses on how to spot and protect against fraud and using a variety of media platforms to promote ways to avoid investment, tax and package delivery scams.  

In 2023, Canadian consumers submitted the second highest number of reports to the FTC from outside the United States about fraud. These include complaints about online shopping, investment scams and business imposters including tech support scams.

Last year, the FTC announced a new initiative allowing consumers to submit reports via phone about fraud or other consumer problems in multiple languages. The agency also provides consumer advice in about a dozen different languages including French, which along with English are the two official languages of Canada.