The Canadian Securities Administrators have disabled thousands of scam sites and platforms through a new initiative conducted with the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization.
According to Stan Magidson, CSA chair and chair and CEO of the Alberta Securities Commission, the initiative is aligned with CSA’s strategy to protect investors from online threats. Regulators deactivated over 3,900 fraudulent investment platforms and cryptocurrency scam sites with over 6,900 related individual URLs from June 5 to November 23.
“Aided by advancements in technology, the number of scam investment websites has grown significantly in recent years and this initiative is part of the CSA’s broader strategy to combat online financial fraud and enhance investor protection in the digital age,” Magidson said in a statement. “Proactive investor protection is a cornerstone of our mandate, and this innovative solution supports our efforts to better protect Canadians from investment fraud.”
The Ontario Securities Commission led the procurement and testing phases of the new capability for CSA and CIRO.
“The success of this initial phase shows that this technology can make a real difference, and the results show the impact it is already having,” said Grant Vingoe, chair of the CSA’s policy coordination committee and OSC CEO, in a statement.
The CSA urged Canadians to continue reporting suspicious sites to regulators. It highlighted common investment fraud flags as follows:
- Involvement of unregistered individuals or firms.
- Promises of high or guaranteed returns on low-risk investments.
- Unsolicited advice or requests from strangers to access personal devices.
- Pressure to make snap decisions.
- Fraudulent social media endorsement from a celebrity, athlete, or politician.
- Requests for money when attempting to withdraw funds.
- Fraud recovery companies that promise to recover lost funds.
The CSA cautioned investors to check the registrations of those providing investment advice or selling investments on the CSA’s National Registration Search site.