Protect Your Points

Posted by & filed under Fraud, Internal control, Student life.

Description: Cyber thieves stole over 84,000 Scene+ points from Rosalind Ashe, $100 at a time. April Canavan of Vancouver found herself $1,000 short of PC Optimum points after she was targeted by fraudsters. These unfortunate Canadians are victims of data theft in action as criminals enter into individual accounts through “brute force” attacks or information… Read more »

“Brazen” Fraud Scheme

Posted by & filed under Ethics, Fraud.

Description: Canadian Kyle Tsui pleaded guilty in an American court last week on charges that he had bilked $6 million dollars from approximately 88,000 customers. Tsui’s Allergy Testing Company offered these customers allergy and food sensitivity tests based on a small hair sample. But, as U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said, the company “didn’t even attempt… Read more »

Gambling Sites and Money Laundering

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Fraud, Internal control.

Description: The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada – often referred to as Fintrac – is reporting that money from illegal activities is being laundered through online gambling. Fintrac uses “big data” searches of millions of transactions as part of its investigative toolkit. Fintrac’s report focuses on gambling online in Canada between 2016… Read more »

Inside Job

Posted by & filed under Fraud, Internal control.

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… Read more »

Is Self-checkout in Trouble?

Posted by & filed under Fraud, Internal control, Student life.

Description: The self-checkout may be in a bit of trouble as some retailers are reconsidering the future of this mode. Increased losses due to shoplifting is certainly a factor for retailers to consider. Adrian Beck of the University of Leicester has studied self-checkouts for over ten years, and he notes they may account for one… Read more »

Sam Bankman-Fried Guilty

Posted by & filed under Fraud.

Description: Sam Bankman-Fried has been found guilty of fraud for his actions around cryptocurrency company FTX. The jury deliberated for three days after a trial that lasted about a month. U.S. attorney Danielle Sassoon characterized Bankman-Fried as using customers money as a “personal piggy bank.” For his part, Bankman-Fried testified in his own defence that… Read more »

The Underground Economy

Posted by & filed under Accounting Careers, Auditing, Fraud.

Description: Statistics Canada reported last week that it estimates Canada’s underground economy was approximately $70 billion in 2021. This unreported activity was up about five percent over 2020. The largest components of the underground economy are residential construction, at 35 percent, followed by real estate rentals at 12.7 percent and retail at 10.5 percent. Statistics… Read more »

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 »