A Big Covid Relief Fraud

Posted by & filed under Canadian governments, Fraud.

Description: A Florida man has been sentenced to over 7 years in prison for a $2.6 million fraud on 3 different U.S. federal Covid-19 relief programs. Daniel Joseph Tisone provided false information to support a variety of applications for loans designed to assist business in the SARS-Cov-2 crisis. While the programs were intended to support… Read more »

Watch Out for Gift Card Scam

Posted by & filed under Fraud.

Description: Well, you have to give marks for ingenuity, even though the results are unpleasant. Thieves have figured out a new scam in which they adhere a barcode for a card they already own to the back of a card sitting among the gift cards at a retailer. So you may think you are picking… Read more »

That’s a Big Fraud Doc!

Posted by & filed under Fraud.

Description: An Alberta physician, Dr. Yifei Shi, has been convicted in what has been called the largest doctor billing fraud in the province’s history. In addition to a four-year prison term, Dr. Shi will have to repay $827,077 to the province. Dr. Shi will also face scrutiny from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of… Read more »

The Cupcake Fraud?

Posted by & filed under Fraud, Taxation.

Description: While delivering a verdict in a tax fraud case on Thursday, Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Robin Gogan said “What was being baked here was a scam of epic portions.” Four women from Cape Breton were found guilty of fraud and a variety of violations under the Excise Tax Act. The scheme consisted of… Read more »

Hard to Trust?

Posted by & filed under Fraud.

Description: Suzanne Bergeron Stonehouse said “You just want to scream,” after she found out that Georges ‘Tiger’ Samman was handing out thousands of dollars to truckers participating in the protest in Ottawa. She and her husband have been trying for months to recover thousands of dollars they had paid on deposit to a contractor that… Read more »

Golfing with the Vendors?

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Fraud.

Description: If you’re working for the City of Hamilton, watch out if you are getting too chummy with city suppliers out on the golf course. City Auditor Charles Brown’s latest fraud and waste report noted that two city employees were hanging out on the golf course during working hours with a vendor who was pursuing… Read more »

Let CRA Do Your Taxes?

Posted by & filed under Fraud, Personal Tax.

Description: The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) had said they would make income tax preparation easier for Canadians. Globe and Mail columnist Rita Trichur has noted an inconsistency in the plan though: CRA has doubled the size of the form from four to eight pages. As she says, “Folks, it’s hard to know whether to laugh… Read more »

Unwelcome timing

Posted by & filed under Ethics, Fraud.

Description: Right now the United Auto Workers is involved with negotiations with the automakers, the contracts having expired September 14. Given this, the timing of this past week’s announcement that Vance Pearson, a member of the UAW’s executive board, had been arrested on charges of embezzeling union funds, is quite unfortunate. The union responded that… Read more »

An Eyeopener!

Posted by & filed under Fraud.

Description:  It certainly was an eye opener! As reported in the Ryerson University student newspaper called the Eyeopener, the student union appears to have $250,000 in credit card charges that need some explaining. That’s a lot of money for student leaders to be charging. A number of students began asking questions, with one commenting that… Read more »

More on those fictional renovations in NB

Posted by & filed under Auditing, Ethics, Fraud.

Description: Last week this blog discussed how the assessment service in  Province of New Brunswick invented renovations for over 2,000 residential properties in the province, causing big increases in tax assessments. The Premier has responded to the growing crisis by appointing a retired appeal court justice to examine the system. Anonymous insiders have claimed that… Read more »