Description: An auto theft ring appears to have benefited from inside information from Service Ontario, according to news reports. Operation Safari under the direction of the Toronto Police has been looking into an auto theft ring since earlier this year, and it has discovered that the workers inside Service Ontario would provide the thieves with driver and vehicle information that would make it easier to flip the vehicles in private sales transactions. An earlier probe, beginning in 2020, had shown Service Ontario employees were complicit in arranging modifications of vehicle records when the auto theft rings changed the Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN) to make the cars appear legitimate.

Date:  December 7, 2023

Source:  nationalpost.com

 Link: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/service-ontario-employees-auto-theft-ring

Discussion points:

1) Have you ever been the victim of a car theft?

2) The VIN once seemed like a pretty effective control to detect vehicle theft. What would you recommend to improve things if you were an accountant with the insurance industry?

3) Page 6-7 of Wiley’s Understanding Financial Accounting tells us about the limitations to internal control. What are they?