Crimes of Persuasion

Schemes, scams, frauds.



Funding Sources for Corporate, Community, Departmental and Individual Efforts


Canadian


The National Crime Prevention Centre (NCPC) within the Department of Justice is responsible for implementing the National Strategy on Community Safety and Crime Prevention in partnership with the Department of the Solicitor General of Canada.

While you would think such an organization would have a desire to combat telemarketing fraud, they have refused to provide even a link to this site's information stating that such a crime in not within their mandate of concern.

National Crime Prevention Centre
The National Strategy on Community Safety and Crime Prevention
St. Andrews Tower
284 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ont.
K1A 0H8

Toll-free: 1-877-302-6272 (NCPC)
Tel: (613) 941-9306
Fax: (613) 952-3515
E-mail: ncpc@web.net

http://www.psepc.gc.ca/prg/cp/index-en.asp

The National Strategy on Community Safety and Crime Prevention is aimed at reducing crime and victimization by addressing their root causes through a social development approach.

Crime prevention through social development (CPSD) is a long-term, proactive approach. It is directed at removing those personal, social and economic factors that lead some individuals to engage in criminal acts or to become victims of crime. This approach aims at strengthening the quality of life for individuals, families and communities. CPSD is intended to increase positive attitudes or behaviour in individuals by influencing their experiences in areas such family, life, education, employment, housing or recreation.

The National Strategy is investing in projects that address risk factors in people's lives, such as abuse, violence, poor parenting and drug and alcohol abuse. The National Strategy priority groups are children and youth, Aboriginal people and women's personal security.

The Safer Communities Initiative is designed to assist Canadians in undertaking crime prevention activities in their communities. To achieve this objective, the Initiative has the following four funding components:

blue bullet point

Community Mobilization Program

blue bullet point

Crime Prevention Investment Fund

blue bullet point

Crime Prevention Partnership Program

blue bullet point

Business Action Program on Crime Prevention

Community Mobilization Program

To assist local organizations including government, the private sector, volunteers and the media to work in partnership in undertaking initiatives that deal with crime and its root causes. Proposals should include the financial or in kind contributions of all partners and must demonstrate the commitment of local community leaders to crime prevention, and should increase public awareness and support for crime prevention.

Funding is available for non profit groups to the sum of $50,000 per project for seminars, public awareness, educational and resource materials as well as training. The project should stress the root causes of the crime, be local vs. national in nature and aid social development.

Business Action Program on Crime Prevention

This program is where national and provincial non-profit private sector groups ( business and professional associations ) work in partnership along with the Government of Canada in addressing the problems related to crime in Canada.

Supported activities include seminars, development of resource material, training and public awareness activities that are regional or national in nature.

Funding is available in the amount of $100,000 per year per project for such items as personnel, transportation, materials, equipment, evaluation, data collection and must include details on matching funding.

Application forms are available in html format at the above website and upon completion are judged by a panel consisting of an alliance of participants from various business sectors.

Crime Prevention Partnership Program

Aimed at developing community-based responses to crime and to assist communities throughout Canada to develop programs and partnerships that will prevent crime in the first place with an emphasis on building federal, provincial and community partnerships.

The Safer Communities Initiative is designed to assist Canadians in undertaking crime prevention activities in their communities by promoting partners to reduce crime and victimization, to assist community-based solutions and to increase public awareness.

By developing crime prevention tools needed by many communities, significant savings can be realized in terms of both human and financial costs. This program aims to support the involvement of organizations that can contribute to community crime prevention activities that can be applied across Canada through the development of information, tools and resources that facilitate community participation in all phases of crime prevention.

Activities supported include the provision of expert advice and consultation, seminars and conferences, training and professional development, research and development of resources and materials

Requirements include organizational mandates which include crime prevention, must show a commitment to community partnerships, be transferable to other locations and provide an outline on sharing of information.

Funding is available for up to $200,000 per year up to three years


Public Security in Québec - Crime prevention funding programs, activities and online publications.


United States

Telemarketing Fraud Against the Elderly Technical Assistance and Training

Grantees: NAAG, APRI, the American Association of Retired Persons Foundation, and the National White Collar Crime Center FY99 Funding: $2 million OJP Sponsor: Bureau of Justice Assistance

Project Description: This award will continue BJA’s support of a consortium of prevention, education, and prosecution projects aimed at thwarting fraudulent telemarketers preying on senior citizens. A major component of the project is the State/Local Telemarketing Fraud Training Task Force, a multi-agency committee led by the National Association of Attorneys General that includes the National District Attorneys Association through the American Prosecutors Research Institute, the National White Collar Crime Center, and the American Association of Retired Persons Foundation.

Project goals are to broaden criminal and civil enforcement efforts by increasing the number of state and local telemarketing prosecutions; coordinate statewide and local investigations and prosecutions; enhance technical and case preparation assistance for state and local prosecutors; and increase U.S.–Canadian cooperation to reduce the cross-border flow of telemarketing fraud.

Over $1.7 million in Justice Department grants will go towards helping train state and local law enforcement and prosecutors to combat telemarketing scams and other forms of fraud against the elderly.

The Department of Corporations of California has been awarded a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance of the U.S. Department of Justice to lead a multi-agency attack on illegal and fraudulent telemarketing operations. The grant is one of five projects nationwide to support innovative approaches to fight the ongoing problem of telemarketing fraud.

Senior Citizens Against Marketing Scams Act Funding

In 1994, the Congress passed the "Senior Citizens Against Marketing Scams Act." That legislation earmarked funds for the Department of Justice [DOJ] to "conduct, in cooperation with State and local law enforcement agencies and senior citizen advocacy organizations, public awareness and prevention initiatives for senior citizens."

DOJ selected the National Association of Attorneys General [NAAG] to coordinate a law enforcement training initiative on telemarketing fraud. NAAG’s partners in this venture are the National White Collar Crime Center and the American Prosecutors Research Institute [APRI], which serves as the research arm for the National District Attorneys Association.

The primary goal is to provide telemarketing fraud prosecution training to front-line state and local prosecutors and investigators throughout the US. They hope to increase the number of prosecutions and the number and severity of criminal sanctions against fraudulent telemarketers. In 1998, over 250 prosecutors and investigators from all fifty states and Canada attended this training.

$4.0 million has been allocated for the FBI’s Senior Citizens Against Marketing Scams (SCAMS) initiative, for the United States Attorneys to prosecute SCAMS fraud cases, and for OJP’s Telemarketing Fraud Against Seniors program, authorized in the Crime Bill to provide grants to State and local law enforcement agencies and senior citizen advocacy groups for public awareness and prevention.