How to report a scam in Canada through the CAFC, OPC and local police

What to take away

• Scam verification starts with preserving evidence: keep texts, emails, call logs and transaction records before you delete anything.
• The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre takes reports by phone and online; it gives a reference number you will need later.
• The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada handles complaints about how an organization handled your personal information.
• The CRTC takes reports about scam calls and caller ID spoofing, not about money you lost.
• Provincial police services and local detachments take fraud reports, especially when you know the suspect or lost money.
• Keep every reference number: follow-up depends on it.

Before you report: the evidence to preserve in the first hour

Act within the first hour. Evidence disappears fast: call records roll over, texts get deleted, and bank holds expire. What you save in that hour decides how far a report can go.

Start with the message itself. Do not delete the text, email or direct message. Screenshot it with the sender's number or address visible. If it is an email, save the full headers, not just the visible address.

Record the call. Write down the number that appeared, the time, and what was said. If you can, note the caller's claimed name and any extension. Do not call the number back.

• Screenshots of texts, emails and chat messages, with sender details visible
• Full email headers, saved as a file
• Call log showing number, date and time
• Bank or credit card statements showing the transaction
• Any receipt, invoice or reference number the scammer gave you
• The URL of any fake website, copied exactly
• Names, account numbers and payment methods used

If money moved, call your bank or card issuer before you call anyone else. A payment can sometimes be stopped in the first hours. Ask for a fraud reference number from the bank too.

Change passwords on any account the scammer touched. Turn on two-factor authentication. If your SIN was exposed, contact Service Canada. If your identity was used, consider a credit freeze with both Equifax Canada and TransUnion Canada.

Keep the originals. Do not forward the only copy of an email to a friend or post it publicly. Reporting bodies want the raw file, not a screenshot of a screenshot.

If you are unsure whether to file first or lock things down first, the order matters less than doing both quickly. Our guide to reporting it or preserving evidence walks through the trade-offs.

Reporting to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre: steps, phone numbers and timelines

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) is the national intake point for fraud reports in Canada. It is run by the RCMP, the Ontario Provincial Police and the Competition Bureau Canada.

The CAFC does not investigate individual cases and does not recover money. It collects reports, spots patterns and shares them with police and regulators. That is still worth your time: your report can help shut down a campaign.

Report online through the CAFC's reporting system, or call 1-888-495-8501. The phone line is open during business hours, Monday to Friday. Online reports can be filed at any time.

1. Gather your evidence from the first hour.
2. Go to the CAFC online reporting form and choose the fraud type that fits.
3. Enter the scammer's contact details, the payment method and the amount lost.
4. Upload or paste the message text and any URLs.
5. Submit and save the reference number shown on screen.
6. If you cannot use the online form, call 1-888-495-8501 and give the same details.

Timelines: file as soon as you can. There is no hard deadline, but reports filed within days are more useful than reports filed months later. The CAFC does not promise a response to every report. You may not hear back at all.

You will get a reference number if you report online. Keep it. Police and your bank may ask for it. For what the CAFC does with reports after intake, see our article on the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre report process.

Do not send money to anyone who claims they can recover your losses for a fee. Recovery fraud is a common second scam aimed at first-time victims.

Filing a privacy complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) handles complaints about how a federal organization or a private company handled your personal information under PIPEDA.

The OPC is not a fraud reporting body. It cannot get your money back or charge a scammer. It can investigate whether an organization broke privacy law, and it can publish findings.

Use the OPC when a company mishandled your data: a breach that exposed your details, a refusal to correct your file, or a business that collected information without valid consent. The OPC's page on how to report a privacy concern explains the intake route.

1. Try to resolve the issue with the organization first. Keep the emails.
2. File the complaint with the OPC online, by mail or by fax.
3. Include your name, contact details and the organization's name.
4. Describe what happened, when, and what you want fixed.
5. Attach supporting documents.
6. Keep the file number the OPC sends you.

Timelines: file within one year of the incident or of when you learned about it. The OPC may refuse complaints filed later. Once accepted, the OPC investigates and may try to settle the matter informally.

The process can take months. The OPC's investigations page sets out the stages. Outcomes range from a finding of no breach to recommendations the organization must answer. The OPC's published actions and decisions show how past complaints were handled.

Provincial privacy laws also exist. Quebec's Law 25, Alberta's Personal Information Protection Act and British Columbia's Personal Information Protection Act cover many organizations in those provinces. In those cases, the provincial commissioner may be the right office, not the OPC.

When the CRTC is the right body, and when it is not

The CRTC regulates telecom and broadcasting in Canada. It is the right body for scam calls, spoofed caller ID, and telemarketing that breaks the rules.

The CRTC is not the right body for money you lost. It does not investigate fraud, recover funds or issue reference numbers for victims. If you lost money, report to the CAFC and police.

The CRTC runs the National Do Not Call List. If a telemarketer keeps calling after you registered, or if caller ID shows a number that does not belong to the caller, that is a CRTC matter.

Report online through the CRTC's complaint form, or call 1-877-249-2782. Include the number that appeared, the date and time, and what was said. The more reports about one number, the more useful they are.

Timelines: there is no fixed deadline, but report while the number is still active. The CRTC does not confirm each report and will not tell you the outcome of an investigation.

If the call was a phishing attempt, treat it as fraud too. Our phishing scams checklist covers what to save and what to ignore.

Provincial police services and local detachment reporting routes

Provincial police services and local detachments take fraud reports in their own jurisdictions. In Ontario that means the Ontario Provincial Police or your municipal service. In Quebec, the Sûreté du Québec or a local service. In British Columbia, the RCMP or a municipal department.

In Alberta, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, the RCMP or a municipal force handles most reports. The right route depends on where you live, not where the scammer claimed to be.

Report to your local police when you lost money, when you know or suspect the person involved, or when the scam involved threats. Also report when your bank asks for a police report before it acts.

For non-emergencies, use the local police non-emergency line or online reporting portal. Call 911 only if you are in immediate danger or a crime is in progress.

1. Find your local service or detachment through the federal policing and justice portal.
2. Choose the online report or non-emergency phone line.
3. Give the CAFC reference number if you already have one.
4. Describe the fraud, the amount and the evidence you hold.
5. Ask for a police file number and write it down.

Timelines: police reports are usually taken when you file. Investigations can take weeks or months, and many fraud files close without charges. Filing still creates a record that helps with banks and insurers.

If you are not sure whether your case is a police matter or a regulatory one, file with both. There is no penalty for reporting to more than one body.

What the Competition Bureau Canada handles instead

The Competition Bureau Canada enforces the Competition Act and other laws against deceptive marketing. It is not a victim intake line.

Use the Bureau when a business made false or misleading claims: fake reviews, false pricing, or a product that does not do what was promised. The Bureau can investigate and take action against the business.

The Bureau does not recover money for individuals and does not issue reference numbers to victims. It may use patterns from many complaints to build a case. The statutes behind these federal bodies are indexed in the Consolidated Acts.

Submitting a tip is different from filing a complaint. Tips can be anonymous and may never get a reply. If you want a record for your own use, file with the CAFC as well.

The Bureau also runs the Deceptive Marketing Practices Directorate. Reports about a business's advertising claims go there. Keep copies of the ads, the website and your receipts.

Following up: reference numbers, timelines and what happens next

Reference numbers are the thread that holds a case together. You may end up with several: one from the CAFC, one from your bank, one from the police, and a file number from the OPC if you filed there.

Store them in one place. A note on your phone or a folder in your email works. Include the body, the date you filed, and the name of anyone you spoke to.

Timelines vary by body. The CAFC may never contact you. Police may follow up within days or not at all. The OPC typically acknowledges a complaint and then investigates over months. Banks often act within days on disputed transactions.

If you filed with the OPC and heard nothing after a reasonable period, contact the OPC and quote your file number. For police, call the non-emergency line and ask for the status of your file number.

Watch for follow-up scams. Anyone who calls claiming to be from the CAFC, the OPC or your bank and asks for payment or a password is a scammer. Real bodies do not ask for gift cards or crypto.

If you are working through several reports at once, our facebook marketplace interac e-transfer scam guide orders tasks by what expires first. Tools that track deadlines and reference numbers are compared in our roundup of new phone privacy checklist.

Scam verification: confirming a report was actually filed

Scam verification means checking that a report exists and that the body you contacted is real. It protects you from two problems: fake reporting sites and fake follow-up calls.

Start with the URL. Type the address yourself rather than clicking a link from an email or text. The CAFC, the OPC and the CRTC all publish their reporting routes on official pages.

Body	What it handles	How to file	What you get
Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre	Fraud and scam reports	Online form or 1-888-495-8501	Reference number (online)
Office of the Privacy Commissioner	Privacy complaints under PIPEDA	Online, mail or fax	File number
CRTC	Scam calls, spoofing, do not call	Online form or 1-877-249-2782	No victim reference number
Competition Bureau Canada	Deceptive marketing	Online tip form	No victim reference number
Provincial police services	Fraud reports, money loss	Non-emergency line or online portal	Police file number

After filing, check for a confirmation email or a screen receipt. Save it as a PDF. If you filed by phone, ask for the reference number before the call ends and read it back to confirm.

If someone contacts you claiming to follow up on your report, verify before you share anything. Ask for the reference number you were given. Call the body back on its published number. Do not use a number the caller gives you.

Be careful with third-party recovery services. Some charge fees for work you can do yourself. Others are fronts for the same criminals. A legitimate service will not ask for payment in crypto or gift cards.

Finally, keep your own record of every contact: date, time, body, person, and what was said. If a case is ever reviewed, that log is your proof of what you did and when.

Common questions

Can I report a scam to the CAFC if I did not lose money? Yes. Attempted fraud matters. The CAFC collects reports of attempts because they show patterns. File online or call 1-888-495-8501.

What is the deadline to file an OPC complaint? File within one year of the incident or of when you learned about it. The OPC may refuse complaints filed after that window.

Should I call the CRTC or the police about scam calls? Call the CRTC about the calls themselves, spoofed numbers and do not call breaches. Call police if you lost money or were threatened.

Do I need a police report before my bank will act? Sometimes. Many banks ask for a police file number before they reverse a transaction. File with police and give the bank the file number.

Will I get my money back after reporting? Not usually. Reporting creates a record and may help an investigation, but recovery depends on the bank, the payment method and how fast you acted.

How do I know a reporting site is genuine? Type the address yourself from an official source. Check that the page matches the body's name and that it does not ask for payment or passwords.