Toronto Crime Stoppers suspends accepting tips following massive data breach

Posted October 21, 2026 9:28 pm.

Toronto Crime Stoppers says it is no longer accepting tips from the public through its online website or call centre following a data breach of its third-party software.

The annonymous non-profit partnership founded in 1984 to help prevent and solve crimes says sometime in March hackers stole data from P3, the software that has been used by Crime Stoppers. Navigate360, which owns the software, says almost 177,000 Toronto tips from January 2022 to November 2025 were stolen in the breach and that almost 15,000 names were among the tips submitted.

Toronto Crime Stoppers says while they never ask for the names of those who submit tips, people do include it in the details to explain what they saw. However, before that tip is sent to investigators, those details are removed.

“It has come to light that some of those original tips containing potentially identifying information were stolen from P3,” Sean Sportun, the chair of Toronto Crime Stoppers said in a statement released Wednesday night.

“[Navigate360] has not told us whether those names belong to people who submitted tips, to people who were named in those tips, or both.”

Sportun says they were told in March by Navigate360 that the P3 platform “is secure,” and that Toronto data was not taken in the hack. It wasn’t until June that they were informed that Toronto data had been breached, but the extent of what was exposed was not made availble.

“To date, we have still not seen the text of the stolen tips,” read the statement. “We have been pressing for answers for months and continue to do so, especially in light of this week’s reporting.”

Sportun says since Juen they have been working with various partners on a safer way to collect tips, adding the organization plans to share more of those details “in the coming days.”

In the meantime, Toronto Crime Stoppers says it has removed the “Tip Submit” feature from its website and advised the National Anonymous Call Centre to cease accepting or processing any new information intended for them, including telephone calls.

The Toronto Police Service (TPS) says they have temporarily suspended using Crime Stoppers in order to assess additional safeguards and security measures being implemented by the organization.

“Until that review is complete, members of the public who wish to provide information about crime or public safety concerns are encouraged to contact Toronto Police directly through our current reporting channels,” adding anyone with qustions about the breach or the scope of affected information taken should contact Toronto Crime Stoppers.

TPS officials point out that the Crime Stoppers platform operate independent of them.

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