Canada police smash Nigerian fraud ring.
Toronto, Canada, police smash Nigerian fraud ring
By DON PEAT
Using any fraud scam they could, a network of thieves bilked millions of dollars from Canadian companies before Toronto Police swooped in, netting one suspect who had already been deported to Nigeria eight times and $700,000 in electronic equipment.
Supt. Ron Taverner said the bust by 23 Division's major crime unit has made a major dent in the illegal global pipeline of cash, electronics and stolen cars flowing offshore to Africa.
Edmund Ezemo, 39, of Toronto, is facing 25 fraud and theft charges along with a count of illegally entering the country.
Police don't believe he acted alone and are looking for others involved in the "very well-organized scam."
"Any fraudulent based operation where they can make money, that's what they've been doing," Taverner said. "These people know what they're doing,"
Police started investigating in December when a company complained after receiving a bad certified cheque.
Using fake companies, accounts were set up with Canadian firms to buy equipment with certified cheques. A few days later, the merchandise was returned and the company refunded the money, Taverner said. When the victim company cashed the original certified cheque, they learned it was fake - too late to stop their cheque.
"That money would be sent offshore fairly quickly and back to Nigeria," Taverner said, adding police found tens of thousands of dollars in wire transfers.
From that investigation, officers arrested Ezemo last month, seizing $5.5 million in certified cheques not yet negotiated, receipts for approximately $2 million in additional frauds with numerous companies across the country, six vehicles worth $280,000, electronics and three photo labs worth $80,000 each.
One scam that Taverner estimated was worth millions involved renting high-end vehicles, loading them with stolen equipment into shipping containers, sending them to Nigeria for re-sale and then reporting them stolen in Canada. The stolen electronic equipment was bought with fake certified cheques.
"We estimate at least 20 motor vehicles have been sent back to Nigeria in containers," Taverner said.
"We recovered six vehicles at the time of the arrest of the accused."
Some of those vehicles, including a 2008 Lincoln MKX, a Dodge Durango and a Chrysler 300, were on display yesterday while several others were in shipping containers in Toronto and Montreal.
Nigeria scam letters promising millions of dollars in exchange for a fee were recovered.
A list of at least 1,000 people and their personal information was also seized.
Police said they were the victims of credit card fraud, but aren't sure exactly how the list was compiled.
"We know that there's a lot of people out there who've been victimized by this group of scam artists," Taverner said.
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