More Cooperation Between Canada and the United States on Internet Fraud Issues

I've often commented on internet fraud becoming borderless and that the solution to defeat it is greater cooperation and teamwork. Here is an example of greater cooperation and teamwork between the United States and Canada.

In a press release issued by the "FTC, U.S. Attorneys, the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Canadian consumer protection officials, and three state Attorneys General today announced a law enforcement initiative targeting spammers who are cluttering consumers’ mail boxes with millions of illegal and unwanted e-mail messages. The FTC targeted three operations, the Canadian Competition Bureau settled two cases, and the Attorneys General of Florida, North Carolina, and Texas filed complaints seeking to block the illegal spamming of three more operations. U.S. federal criminal authorities have executed search warrants as part of this initiative.

For the full press release by the FTC, please read, Cross-border Law Enforcement Team Targets Spammers.

"Copies of the complaints are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov/ and also from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish (bilingual counselors are available to take complaints), or to get free information on any of 150 consumer topics, call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357), or use the complaint form at http://www.ftc.gov/. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad."

In the not so recent past, a lot of internet fraud has been traced across the border to Canada. In particular, a lot of Advance fee fraud (419) type scams. Even though this is just a start (I would like to see these partnerships expand across more borders), it is hopefully where the future on prosecuting these crimes lies.