CRTC to crack down on phone scammers

Canadian providers of Internet-based phone systems should be able to adopt new technology next year that goes after fake phone calls.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) says telecom companies should be able to implement systems by Sept. 30, 2020 that will help consumers using IP-based phone systems verify whether incoming calls are from legitimate people, businesses or government agencies.

The regulator says the new technology is already used in parts of the United States.

The impact for many Canadians will be limited because the technology isn’t available for traditional land-lines or mobile phones.

The regulator says about 40 per cent of the complaints it receives each year are about caller ID spoofing, which allows callers to hide their real number by displaying a fake one on the receiving phone.

Hours after the CRTC announced measures to tackle phone scammers, CityNews reporter Faiza Amin received a call to her cellphone from a man who claimed to be from Service Canada, threatening to arrest her if she didn’t provide her full name and SIN number.

When she refused and asked if it was a scam, the man on the other line began cursing and threatening her. He also said he worked for himself and made $72,000 dollars daily.

You can watch the exchange here:

The Canadian Anti Fraud Centre estimates Canadians have lost millions of dollars to scams artists who use computer programs to spoof legitimate telephone numbers, including numbers used by the Canada Revenue Agency, Service Canada and even local police.

In 2019, as of Oct 31, there were 19,123 reports of telephone scams with 4,163 of the reports classified as victims and a total reported loss of $24.1 million.

In 2018, there were 39,847 reports of telephone scams with 4,855 of the reports were classified as victims and a total reported loss of $29.8 million