In the past four weeks, Ontario Provincial Police and Ottawa police have both been in the news, warning us that their caller IDs have allegedly been spoofed in financial scams. Giving out details to the public in an attempt to cover up any potential liability and deny any wrongdoing.
I know of a few financial scams committed by the Toronto Police Service that aren't spoofed, so I wanted to give some details about them to warn people.
Ministry of Labour Scam
This scam is carried out by Ashley Fukusaka, aka Ashley Wang, who works illegally for the Toronto Police; this has been confessed by Officer A. Keshavji (Tony) and covered up by Officer Fukusaka out of 41 Division. It also involves a CIBC bank Manager named Josie. Ashley starts by making a fake Ministry of Labour claim stating that the target owes her money. The Ministry of Labour begins collection calls on the target. Josie, the CIBC bank manager, then freezes the victim's account, which sets the stage for the robbery. Josie then calls the victim, stating that their account has been frozen due to the Ministry of Labour complaint, but it can be cleared if the victim gives out their password. Once the password is given out, illegal funds, stolen cheques, etc., are funnelled in and out of the victim's account. This helps prevent tracing the money and seems to be the preferred method of this type of bank robbery.
Fake Collection Agency
This one is carried out by Ashley Fukusaka and two of her girlfriends, Chalaine Porter (working under the name Victoria) and Danielle Benson. This is also backed up by the
#TorontoPolice, most notably officer Keshavji. This scam requires some inside information, either through a corrupt bank teller, a close personal relationship, computer/phone hacking or even a break-in. Once they obtain this information, the female callers claim to be either the CRA or another collection agency, depending on the victim's personal information. If they know the target is a contractor, they may pretend to be the CRA. They use the inside information to verify details such as employment earnings, previous debts, or bank account/social insurance numbers, which gives them credibility as collection callers. They then threaten the victim with fictitious debts in an attempt to get them to transfer over money. Collection agencies are a great way of blackmailing victims into not coming forward, and it can complicate the legal process with courts demanding that any potential debts be paid before the stolen money is looked into.
etalk $250 000 Cheque theft
This theft happened at a CTV-owned building at 299 Queen Street West while Ben Mulroney was working on the television show etalk. A $250 000 etalk cheque was generated for an employee, and then two operations staff members, Christina Gunn and Prateek George, coerced the victim into giving them the cheque. I've heard this cheque wasn't actually cashed, but the corruption lies in why it was issued in the first place, not whether it was successfully deposited. CTV/Citytv employees have also confessed to colluding with the Toronto Police Service.
OPP Link
insidehalton.com/news/opp-al…
Ottawa Police Link
ottawapolice.ca/en/news/post…