Enforcing
Canada’s Anti-Spam
Legislation (CASL)

Dark Web Investigation

As part of an investigation, in January 2021, the CRTC’s Chief Compliance and Enforcement Officer issued administrative monetary penalties totalling $300,000 to four Canadians for their involvement with a company in the Dark Web Marketplace known as CanadianHQ.

The CRTC’s actions resulted in the shutdown of CanadianHQ, which was one of the largest Dark Web marketplaces of its kind in the world and a significant contributor to harmful cyber activity in Canada.  The CRTC’s investigation focused on four individuals who allegedly sent emails  that mimicked well-known brands in order to obtain personal data including banking credentials and other sensitive information.

This investigation has also allowed the CRTC to identify a number of other vendors where it expects to take additional enforcement actions.

To find out more on the CRTC’s investigation of CanadianHQ, consult the CRTC’s news release on Targeting the Dark Web Marketplace.

Complaints from Canadians support CRTC’s investigation

In December 2021, the CRTC reached an agreement with Gap Inc. (Gap) for allegedly violating CASL. In addition to implementing corrective measures, Gap agreed to make a payment of $200,000.

As part of the investigation, the Chief Compliance and Enforcement Officer had reason to believe that Gap sent commercial electronic messages to Canadians without the necessary consent. Gap’s messages also allegedly did not consistently include either an unsubscribe mechanism or an unsubscribe mechanism which could easily be performed.

Upon being made aware of the Chief Compliance and Enforcement Officer’s concerns, Gap proactively made changes to its marketing practices to meet CASL requirements.

This investigation was supported by complaints received from Canadians. Canadians are encouraged to report spam and suspicious practices to spam@fightspam.gc.ca or by using the Spam Reporting Centre’s (SRC’s) online form.

Long description:

• 1 Undertaking
• 230 Notices to Produce
• 21 Preservation Demands

Payments and Penalties Under CASL

Since CASL came into force in 2014, enforcement efforts have resulted in more than $1.9 million payable. Of this amount, approximately $1.1 million is from administrative monetary penalties^{Footnote 1} and $868,000 from negotiated undertakings.

Between October 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022

Over 167,939 complaints to the Spam Reporting Centre.

That’s 6,459 per week.

Approximately 4,069 of these complaints were submitted using the online form, which represents only about 2.42% of total complaints. The remainder of complaints were sent by email at spam@fightspam.gc.ca.

The CRTC encourages Canadians to use the SRC’s online form to provide as much information as possible about potential CASL violations. The information provided by Canadians is an essential part of the intelligence the SRC gathers on spam and electronic threats. Each report is valuable and helps us to enforce CASL.

SRC Database Updates

Not only does the SRC allow Canadians to report spam, it also provides the 3 enforcement agencies responsible for ensuring compliance with CASL: the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the Competition Bureau, and the Office of the Privacy; with access to a central database which can be used for CASL investigative and enforcement purposes.

The CRTC has enhanced the search and reporting functions built into the SRC case management system.  This will foster more complex searches and allows the enforcement agencies to create a variety of reports to help provide analytical insight for identifying new trends, violations and investigations. 

Reasons why Canadians complain

Long description:

Complaint reasons and percentages

• Lack of consent: 94%
• Indentification of Sender: 39%
• Deceptive Marketing Practices: 33%
• Other: 20%
• Software and Malware: 3%

Note: The total does not add to 100% since Canadians can select more than one category for a complaint.

Per month complaints about consent highest in November 2021

Looking at submissions from Canadians to the SRC over the last 6 months, per month complaints about consent issues were at their highest in November 2021.

Note: Statistics derived from spam reports filed through the SRC online form.

Long description:

Year-Month	Lack of consent	Deceptive Marketing Practices	Identification of Sender	Other	Software and Malware	Grand Total
2021-10	632	208	244	111	26	1221
2021-11	780	256	303	149	15	1503
2021-12	591	172	216	98	8	1085
2022-1	592	237	282	149	40	1300
2022-2	574	238	267	138	16	1233
2022-3	646	247	292	150	25	1360
Grand Total	3815	1358	1604	795	130	7702

Collaboration with International Partners

The CRTC has also forged partnerships with organizations across the globe in order to better fulfill its mandate. The CRTC is part of the Unsolicited Communications Enforcement Network (UCENet). Members from over 26 countries work together to promote international spam enforcement cooperation and address problems relating to spam and unsolicited telecommunications.