# Fraud prevention {% embed url="" %} {% hint style="warning" %} **College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC)** To better protect newcomers and applicants to Canada from unscrupulous and fraudulent consultants, the Government of Canada announced in 2019 its intention to strengthen the regime governing immigration and citizenship consultants by implementing a new statutory College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC). The [*College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants Act*](https://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-33.6/) came into force on November 20 and the College is expected to open in 2021. The mandate of the CICC is to regulate the practice of immigration and citizenship consulting in the public interest, and it will operate as an arm’s-length institution. {% endhint %} {% hint style="danger" %} Only a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC), a lawyer registered in one of Canada’s 13 Law Societies, a notaire registered with the Chambre des notaires du Québec, or someone working directly under the supervision of someone belonging to one of those 3 previous professions, can legally offer Canadian immigration advice in exchange for money. {% endhint %} {% hint style="info" %} ## [Find out if your representative is authorized](https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigration-citizenship-representative/choose/authorized.html) You can check if a person is licensed to represent immigrants or to give advice. * Citizenship or immigration consultants must be a member of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. * Lawyers or notaries must be a member of a [Canadian provincial or territorial law society](https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigration-citizenship-representative/choose/authorized.html#law-societies), or the Chambre des notaires du Québec. * Paralegals (Ontario only) must be members of the [Law Society of Upper Canada](http://www.lsuc.on.ca/index_en.html) If they are not members in good standing, you should not use their services. Most law societies let you check online to see if a person is a member in good standing. {% endhint %} {% hint style="success" %} **Law Society Tribunal** The Law Society Tribunal is an independent adjudicative tribunal within the Law Society of Ontario. The Tribunal processes, hears and decides regulatory cases about Ontario lawyers and paralegals in a manner that is fair, just and in the public interest. [Make a Complaint about a Lawyer](https://lso.ca/protecting-the-public/complaints) [Discipline-related decisions issued since 2000](https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onlst/) {% endhint %} --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://help.gcmsnotes.com/fraud-prevention.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.