March 2021

Consumer Edge

Office of Consumer Affairs

March 2021

March is Fraud Prevention Month

During Fraud Prevention Month, take the time to protect yourself against COVID-19 scams. Learn to spot fake emails, texts and phone calls offering home vaccination kits and COVID-19 tests from unauthorized sources. Check out the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre's COVID-19 fraud web page for all the details.

Throughout the month, the Competition Bureau and its partners will share tools to recognize, reject and report fraud. Be sure to follow @CompBureau on Twitter to get the latest information.

World Consumer Rights Day (March 15)

The theme of this year's World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) is Tackling Plastic Pollution. The dialogue will focus on the work needed from all levels of government, around the world, to reimagine the use of single-use plastics. Share your voice on March 15—use the hashtags #SustainableConsumer and #NoPlasticPollution on social media.

To learn about the Government of Canada's efforts to take action on plastic waste and how you can help, visit the Toward zero plastic waste resource on Canada.ca.

Stop overpaying service providers and start switching!

Did you know that you can take advantage of competition between service providers to lower your monthly bills and get better products and services by switching providers or renegotiating your contracts?

Stop overpaying for services like telecom, insurance and banking. Check out the Competition Bureau's tips to Stop overpaying and start switching.

To connect to websites that compare mobile service providers' prices, plans and coverage areas, visit the Compare mobile phone plans resource.

Study on high interest loans

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now Canada (ACORN) recently published their report that looks at the experience of lower-income consumers in the online high-cost credit market.

Read the full report to learn what online lending options exist for lower-income consumers and how they compare to financing offered by mainstream financial institutions.

ACORN received funding from the OCA's Contributions Program for Non-Profit Consumer and Voluntary Organizations to complete this study.

For more information, please contact the ACORN organization in your region.