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Centre of Operations Linked to Telemarketing Fraud (COLT)

What is COLT?

In 1998, the RCMP Commercial Crime Section in Montreal launched an integrated project to combat mass marketing fraud. The Centre of Operations Linked to Telemarketing Fraud (COLT) is a joint forces operation involving the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Sûreté du Québec (SQ), City of Montreal Police Service (CMPS), Competition Bureau, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Homeland Security (Immigration & Customs Enforcement), US Postal Inspection Service and US Federal Trade Commission. The COLT team also works in close cooperation with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), Canada Post and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Call Centre (PhoneBusters).

What is the objective of COLT?

The COLT mission is threefold: offer prevention and education programs, carry out interception operations and conduct mass marketing fraud investigations.

The COLT team is tasked with investigating mass marketing fraud operations based in the greater Montreal area. Through prevention and education programs, it also aims to be proactive in putting an end to fraudulent activities and raising public awareness about this type of crime.

Since becoming part of the Commercial Crime Section, the COLT team has intercepted millions of dollars in transactions. In 2006, COLT returned thousands of dollars to victims of mass marketing fraud, boosting to over $24 million the total of monies recovered since its creation in 1998.