Competition Bureau participates in worldwide blitz on scams and spam

OTTAWA, February 22, 2005 — The Competition Bureau, along with 76 other government agencies world-wide, has just completed a special two-day Internet surveillance and enforcement program targeting bogus product claims found on the Internet. The focus of this International Sweep is scams and Spam over the Internet. The government agencies, including 25 from member countries of the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN), participated in this year's sweep.

The Internet sweep forms part of the Bureau's commitment to ICPEN and to Project FairWeb, the Bureau's dedicated Internet surveillance and enforcement program aimed at combating Internet fraud. As with Project FairWeb, the current sweep's principal focus relates to fraudulent weight-loss products.

As part of the Internet sweep, Bureau officers searched for Canadian-based sites making unrealistic performance claims and collected Spam using e-mail "harvest" accounts. The results of the ICPEN sweep will be analyzed and follow-up enforcement action will be taken as necessary.

Scams found on the Internet and through spam are examples of many types of fraud being highlighted throughout the month of February as part of Fraud Awareness Month a month-long campaign launched by the Fraud Prevention Forum, which is chaired by the Competition Bureau. The goal of this campaign is to educate Canadians on how to protect themselves against fraud. More than 40 private and public sector organizations are reaching out to Canadians in an effort to educate them on how to recognize, report and stop fraud.

The concept of Fraud Awareness Month has also been adopted by ICPEN. The Internet Sweep highlights the Competition Bureau's involvement in ICPEN's Fraud Awareness Month campaign ? with the goal of providing consumers with the knowledge and skills to recognize, report and stop scams.

The Competition Bureau is an independent law enforcement agency that ensures that all Canadians enjoy the benefits of a competitive economy. It oversees the application of the Competition Act, the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act, the Textile Labelling Act and the Precious Metals Marking Act.

ICPEN is a network of governmental organizations including the Competition Bureau, involved in the enforcement of fair trade practices laws and other consumer protection activities. ICPEN conducts sweeps in order to target the growing number of fraudulent and deceptive scams emerging on the Internet.

For more information on Fraud Awareness Month, go to www.cb-bc.gc.ca.

For more information about ICPEN, go to www.icpen.uokik.gov.pl.

For more information on Project FairWeb, go to: http://competitionbureau.gc.ca/epic/site/cb-bc.nsf/en/00237.html.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Maureen McGrath
Senior Communications Advisor
Communications Branch
819-953-8982, or 613-296-2187 (cell)

For general enquiries, please contact:

Information Centre
Competition Bureau
819-997-4282
1-800-348-5358