Toronto Crime Stoppers Pauses Tip Program After 1.5 Million Tips Exposed in Data Leak

What happened

A CBC investigation found that information from more than 1.5 million tips submitted to Canadian Crime Stoppers programs over 25 years was exposed. Over 850,000 entries contained personally identifiable information such as street addresses and phone numbers, and in more than 4,300 reports tipsters had included their full names.

The leak traces to P3 Global Intel, a tip-management platform owned by U.S.-based Navigate360; the files were stolen in March and circulated by Distributed Denial of Secrets. Navigate360 told Toronto Crime Stoppers that 176,859 tips submitted between January 2022 and November 2025, plus 14,973 names, were stolen — after telling the charity in April that Toronto's data had not been taken, then reversing itself in June.

Chair Sean Sportun said in a statement Wednesday evening that the program is paused effective immediately: the "Tip Submit" feature was removed from its website, Navigate360 was told to suspend intake for the Toronto chapter, and the National Anonymous Call Centre was directed to stop accepting Toronto tips. The public is asked not to send tips by phone, online or through the app "until we have a safer way to protect you." "People in Toronto have come to Toronto Crime Stoppers because we promised they could stay anonymous. This week's reporting shows that for some of them, that promise was broken. We are deeply sorry," Sportun said.

Reactions

The Toronto Police Service announced Wednesday evening it has "temporarily suspended its use of Crime Stoppers" pending review, saying it has received no information indicating the safety of officers, tipsters or the public has been compromised.

The RCMP said it is engaged with the Canadian Crime Stoppers Association to determine the full scope. CTV News separately reported the narrower figure of 176,859 tips covering January 2022 to November 2025.