The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) is pleased to announce that their fraud reporting datasets are now live on the Open Government Portal. These datasets mark the first RCMP contribution to the Portal and will be updated quarterly.
The RCMP is working to improve transparency to create an organization that is more open, trusted, efficient and responsive. The RCMP's plan is to provide Canadians, stakeholders and partners with valuable information. This will encourage open dialogue, enhance trust and accountability, and help to improve community policing services. Sharing data with the public is essential to enhancing their participation in policy-making, service designs and, in the case of the CAFC's fraud reporting data – preventive action.
Both 2021 and 2022 were historic years for the CAFC, with record-setting amounts of reported losses to fraud. In 2021, reports to the CAFC showed that $380 million was lost to fraud. In 2022, this number rose to $531 million. As we reach the half-way point of 2023, the CAFC sees similar trends in fraud reports and losses. In the CAFC's published datasets, viewers can access further fraud data, such as: number of reports, location of reports, types of fraud reported, amount of money lost, age of victims and more.
Canadians can help combat fraud by learning about it and always reporting it. The CAFC and law enforcement are asking that anyone who has been targeted by a scam or fraud to report it to the CAFC online or toll-free at 1-888-495-8501. Victims must also report to their local police, who are better positioned to investigate.
Quotes
The RCMP's Transparency and Trust Strategy demonstrates a commitment to build a foundation and lead by example when it comes to transparency in policing. Enhancing access to data and information can lead to amazing things like innovation, de-victimization, accountability, as well as improved services, research and engagement. The RCMP's first major open data set to be released from the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center marks the beginning of many more advancements in transparency at the RCMP.
The CAFC is pleased to have been the first to contribute data from the RCMP. While fraud reports provide critical information for law enforcement, there is a lot of value that the public can pull from it too. We encourage Canadians to access the Open Government Portal, inform themselves on what data is showing, and use the information to help us build a safer and stronger country.
Quick Facts
- The CAFC is a national police service that gathers intelligence on fraud across Canada and assists Police of Jurisdiction with enforcement and prevention efforts.
- The CAFC does not lead investigations but provides valuable assistance to law enforcement agencies all over the world by identifying connections among seemingly unrelated cases.
- It is currently estimated that only 5-10% of fraud is reported.
- The CAFC has been working in partnership with the NC3 to develop a new National Cybercrime and Fraud Reporting System. This new reporting system is intended to be more user-friendly and capture more fulsome information about the cybercrime and fraud being reported. The reporting system is expected to be fully operational in the winter of 2023-2024.
- 2021 - RCMP creates an Open Government and Data Governance directorate, dedicating full-time resources to the advancement of Open Government at the RCMP.
- 2022 - RCMP contributes to Canada's 5th National Action Plan on Open Government and commits to increasing open data releases, developing a data inventory and establishing a multi-stakeholder forum and an internal working group to advance transparency across the RCMP.
- 2023 – RCMP publishes it's first Transparency and Trust Strategy enabled by Open Government marking the RCMP's initiave to be an international leader in public safety transparency and open government practices, and embody the principles of trust, transparency, integrity, accountability and participation.