Today I appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry and Technology on behalf of CARP members and older Canadians across the country.
Committee Chair Ben Carr asked whether CARP would publicly call on Meta to step up in the fight against fraud and scams on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and other digital platforms.
I said yes.
Fraud prevention cannot rest primarily on individual vigilance. Older Canadians have been told for years to be careful. They have listened. Yet fraud losses continue to rise.
Now the platforms, institutions, and systems fraudsters use must show the same level of vigilance.
Here is CARP’s open letter to Meta Canada.
Anthony Quinn, President
____________________________________________________________
An Open Letter to Meta Canada
June 11, 2026
Attention: Rachel Curran
Head of Public Policy, Meta Canada
Dear Ms. Curran,
Today, I appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry and Technology on behalf of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, CARP, and the more than 250,000 members we represent across Canada.
The Committee is studying financial fraud and scams in Canada.
During my appearance, Committee Chair and Member of Parliament, Ben Carr asked whether I would be willing, on behalf of Canadian seniors, to reach out publicly to Meta and ask the company to step up in the fight against fraud and scams on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and other digital platforms.
I said yes.
So I am writing to you now.
Fraud against older Canadians is organized, sophisticated, often international, and increasingly delivered through the platforms Canadians use every day, including Facebook and Instagram.
CARP members are not careless people. They helped build Canada and they spent decades building their savings. They ask questions. They check things. They try to be careful.
And still, too many are being targeted by scams that are designed to look legitimate, move quickly, create urgency, exploit trust, and disappear before anyone can be held accountable.
We hear regularly from members who have encountered fraudulent investment ads, impersonation accounts, fake celebrity endorsements, romance scams, cryptocurrency schemes, and other forms of deception circulating online.
Our members recount individual losses and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre reports that collectively, Canadians are losing over one billion dollars per year, and that number is growing.
One CARP member, Peter Squire of Winnipeg, lost nearly $650,000 in a sophisticated fraud despite taking many of the precautions Canadians are always told to take.
CARP believes that fraud prevention cannot rest primarily on individual vigilance.
We’re calling on banks, telcos, government and law enforcement to do more.
But Meta has responsibilities too.
Facebook and Instagram are among the most powerful communications and advertising platforms in the world. Meta has the technology, data, engineering capacity, and scale to detect patterns that no individual senior, family member, police officer, or community organization could ever see on their own.
When a fraudulent ad on Facebook reaches an older Canadian, when an impersonation account builds trust, when a fake investment opportunity is amplified, or when a scammer uses a platform to find and groom a victim, the harm is for many seniors, is permanent and life altering.
I am writing to ask that Meta take immediate steps to better protect Canadians.
On behalf of CARP members and older Canadians across the country, I am asking Meta Canada to publicly outline what additional steps it is prepared to take to:
- Detect and remove fraudulent advertisements before they reach consumers.
- Move faster against impersonation accounts and fake investment promotions.
- Stop fraudsters from returning under new names after being removed.
- Warn users who may have been exposed to known scams.
- Work more directly with Parliament, law enforcement, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, banks, telecom providers, and consumer organizations.
- Provide clearer public reporting on fraud-related content, takedowns, repeat offenders, and user exposure.
- And engage directly with CARP to better understand how older Canadians are being targeted online.
The seniors we represent have been told for years to be vigilant. They have listened and yet fraud losses continue to rise.
Now it is time for the platforms, institutions, and systems that fraudsters use to show the same level of vigilance.
Meta has an opportunity to lead here.
It can demonstrate that Facebook and Instagram are not simply places where fraud is reported after the damage is done, but platforms where fraud is actively identified, disrupted, and prevented before more Canadians are harmed.
CARP would welcome the opportunity to meet with you and your team to discuss practical steps Meta can take to better protect older Canadians.
The members of CARP, and Canadians more broadly, deserve to know that the digital platforms they use every day are working as hard to stop fraud as fraudsters are working to exploit them.
I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Anthony Quinn
President
Canadian Association of Retired Persons
anthony@carp.ca
