WELLINGTON COUNTY – Crime Stoppers Guelph Wellington (CSGW) has removed its “Tip Submit” feature on their website due to hackers stealing information from nearly 15,000 tips.
“Until we have a safe way to protect you, we are pausing taking tips through Crime Stoppers Guelph Wellington, effective immediately,” CSGW said in a press release.
CSGW said the data breech is in relation to P3, the tip software they have been using since 2018 and is owned by Navigate360.
The press release said Navigate360 informed CSGW that 14,898 tips dating from 1996 to 2025 was part of the stolen data, and included 1,407 names.
“Navigate360 has not told us whether those names belong to people who submitted tips and self-identified, people who were named as suspects in tips, or both,” the press release said.
According to CSGW on March 19 or March 20 this year, crime stoppers received an email from Navigate360 that said there are reports of a “cyber-incident” affecting their database, which were later confirmed on March 25.
However, CSGW said Navigate360 affirmed the P3 software was still safe and fully operational.
It was not until June when CSGW said they received the report of what happened to Navigate360’s software and what data was compromised.
Here is a statement from the press release;
If you are worried that your tip was exposed:
• Understand that Crime Stoppers will never contact you to ask you for anything. If someone does contact you about a tip you submitted, it’s not us.
• If you have information that you are in danger, call the police – Guelph Police Service or Ontario Provincial Police, as appropriate for where you are.
What comes next:
CSGW has been working with our partners on a safer way to take tips. We will share more information as we can in the coming weeks. Stronger rules will be put in place for any partner we use.
Any new partner will have to protect information more stringently, including deleting what isn’t required any longer and being transparent if something goes wrong.
“We know this incident is difficult for many people. We will keep investigating and pressing for answers, and we commit to sharing those answers as soon as we can do so.”
