1.5M Canadian Crime Stoppers tips leaked
Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
CBC reported over 1.5 million Canadian Crime Stoppers tips were exposed in a March 2026 hack.
Toronto, the hardest-hit chapter, paused its tip line over broken anonymity promises.
Background
Crime Stoppers programs collect anonymous tips and route them to police, and are marketed on a promise of guaranteed anonymity for tipsters. Chapters across Canada used P3 Global Intel, a tip-management platform owned by U.S.-based Navigate360, to collect, triage and route those tips. In March 2026 data was stolen from the platform by a hacktivist collective calling itself Internet Yiff Machine, and a copy of the hacked data was later released to journalists, including CBC, by Distributed Denial of Secrets, a U.S. non-profit whistleblower site that publishes hacked documents it deems to be in the public interest. CBC's October 2026 analysis, built on more than 8.3 million raw records, was the first time precise figures on the exposure were made public.
How it unfolded
- 2025 winterManitoba resident Andrew Rivard answered a Crime Stoppers ad offering a $2,000 reward and reported illegal cigarette sales in his neighbourhood, giving his full name.
- Mar 2026Data was stolen from P3 Global Intel, the tip-management platform owned by Navigate360, by hacktivist collective Internet Yiff Machine.
- Apr 2026Navigate360 told Toronto Crime Stoppers that Toronto's data had not been taken.
- Jun 2026Navigate360 told Toronto Crime Stoppers that Toronto's data was affected but did not say what was exposed.
- Oct 21, 2026CBC published an exclusive investigation finding more than 1.5 million tips submitted to Canadian Crime Stoppers programs over 25 years were exposed.
- Oct 21, 2026Late that evening, Toronto Crime Stoppers chair Sean Sportun announced the program was pausing effective immediately; the chapter removed its Tip Submit feature and directed Navigate360 to suspend intake for its chapter. The Toronto Police Service separately said it had temporarily suspended its use of Crime Stoppers.
- Oct 22, 2026The pause and CBC's findings were reported; the RCMP said it is working with the national Crime Stoppers association to determine the scope of the breach.
Who’s saying what
- Official
- Toronto Crime Stoppers chair Sean Sportun said the chapter had promised tipsters anonymity and that for some the promise was broken, adding "We are deeply sorry."
- Caution
- Toronto Crime Stoppers advised the public not to send tips by phone, online or through its app "until we have a safer way to protect you."
- Party
- Toronto Crime Stoppers said Navigate360 repeatedly called P3 secure, said in April that Toronto's data had not been taken, and in June said it was affected without saying what was exposed.
- Public
- Manitoba tipster Andrew Rivard, whose information was exposed, said he had expected to stay anonymous and called the situation "very scary, to be honest."
Still unverified
CTV News separately reported a narrower figure of 176,859 tips submitted between January 2022 and November 2025, which should be read as a partial count rather than the full total. Navigate360 told Toronto Crime Stoppers the stolen data contained 176,859 Toronto tips from January 2022 to November 2025 and that it had found 14,973 names in them, but could not say whether the names belonged to tipsters, suspects or both. CBC could not determine in every instance whether the personal information belonged to a tipster, a victim or someone accused of a crime, and the data contains unverified criminal allegations not necessarily investigated by police or proven in court.