On June 17, 2026, the Sûreté du Québec announced the arrest of a 24‑year‑old man and a 29‑year‑old woman in Montreal. The two are accused of operating an online platform that offered personal data of Canadian citizens to fraudsters. The arrests were made as part of an ongoing investigation into identity‑theft schemes.
According to police, the website functioned as a marketplace where criminals could purchase records such as names, addresses, Social Insurance Numbers and other identifying information. The administrators allegedly managed the site, facilitating transactions that enabled fraudulent activities ranging from credit‑card fraud to illegal loans. Law enforcement officials said the platform attracted a network of buyers seeking readily available data.
The Sûreté du Québec indicated that the operation was uncovered through a combination of digital forensics and undercover work. Investigators traced payments and communications linked to the site back to the two suspects, leading to their detention in Montreal. Both individuals remain in custody pending further legal proceedings.
The arrests are part of a broader strategy by Quebec authorities to disrupt online identity‑theft networks that have proliferated in recent years. Officials have previously targeted similar operations that compromised the personal information of thousands of Canadians. By removing the administrators of the marketplace, police hope to curtail the flow of stolen data and reduce the number of fraud cases that rely on such illicit resources.
Police confirmed that the website had been used to distribute personal records to multiple buyers, but they did not disclose the total number of files sold or the identity of the fraudsters who purchased them. The lack of detailed statistics reflects ongoing investigations and the difficulty of quantifying the scope of online data markets.
The arrests underscore the provincial police’s commitment to targeting digital crime infrastructure. By removing the administrators, investigators aim to prevent further exploitation of Canadians’ personal information and to send a warning to other operators of illicit data‑selling services.