Fraud Conference Highlights Online Awareness

Posted on March 2, 2011 by Wellesley Consulting Services

Canadian government bodies, law enforcement agencies, and industry organizations are hosting a first-ever fraud conference in Ottawa from March 7-8, 2011, according to a Government of Canada website.

The Competition Bureau website highlights toolkits and other resources for “Fraud Prevention Month” which occurs in March each year. This year, they are also involved the planning of the inaugural fraud conference, which will run over two days next week at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier.

The two-day schedule is heavily geared towards digital-age fraud issues, such as phishing and spoofing, spamming, and web 2.0 privacy and identity theft. Speakers include OPP and RCMP officers, as well as representatives from the Canadian Bankers Association, Competition Bureau, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Industry Canada, TransUnion, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other public and private bodies.

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the world’s premiere fraud prevention and professional accreditation body, also holds frequent annual fraud awareness conferences, across the U.S., Canada, and around the world. The ACFE’s 22nd annual conference is scheduled for June in San Diego, Calif., and the Canadian ACFE conference will be held in Toronto in November.

Casino Cheats Spill Their Chips

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Wellesley Consulting Services

Canadian casinos operated by OLGC, similar to Caesars Windsor pictured here in 2008, were targeted in a large cheating operation along with dozens of U.S. ones by the Tran Organization. Photo: Wellesley Consulting Services.

Dozens of members of a San Diego-based organized casino cheating group have pleaded guilty to cheating, money-laundering, and racketeering charges in a U.S. federal court, in dozens of cases of casino cheating that included at least one Canadian casino, according to an FBI news release.

The Tran Organization was a large, family-run casino crime group that operated on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border. Members of the group would target casino employess — usually disgruntled dealers, but including at least one pit boss — who would then be bribed to fix the shuffle in card cards so that clumps of cards were left unshuffled.

Using sophisticated electronics, including hidden microphones, cellular telephones, and laptop computers, the group would then use members watching the cards being dealt in order to predict the deal of cards for the next several hands, and time their bets to coincide with winning streaks.

The FBI accuse the group of swindling over $7 million from various casinos, including Ontario’s Casino Rama, operated by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.

The Ontario Provincial Police Casino Enforcement Unit contributed to the investigation. According to a QMI Media report, three Rama employees were rounded up in 2007, when the organization was first dismantled.

A 45-year-old California resident, Van Thu Tran, who co-founded the group, faces up to 20 years imprisonment in the U.S. for her role in the illegal enterprise, after pleading guilty in a U.S. court earlier this year.

Police said the Tran Organization’s cheating started to unravel in 2006 when casinos began investigating large losses and some of the bribed dealers came forward with information in exchange for charges against them being dropped.

Three Arrested in RBC Bombing

Posted on June 20, 2010 by Wellesley Consulting Services

A fire erupts at an Ottawa RBC branch in an image posted to ottawa. Three arrests have been made in connecction with this arson.

Ottawa police reported Saturday the arrests of three men in connection with the May 18 fire bombing of an RBC branch that caused $500,000 in damage.

The fire bombing was allegedly videotaped by the suspects and posted to an anti-capitalist website the same day, along with a message that the perpetrators would be present at the upcoming G8/G20 summits in Huntsville and Toronto.

Charged with arson, explosives offences, and mischief are Roger Clement, 58, and Matthew Morgan-Brown, 32, both of Ottawa, and charged with fail to comply and possession of ammunition is Claude Haridge, 50, also of Ottawa.

Morgan-Brown was also reportedly arrested in 2007 following a demonstration at Ottawa’s ritzy Chateau Laurier hotel, held just prior to the Montebello summit.

Both Morgan-Brown and Clement also appear on a web list of supporters for Algerian Mohamed Harkat, an alleged sleeper agent for Al-Qaeda who was previously detained on a security certificate in Canada, and who remains under house arrest in Ottawa awaiting deportation. On that list of supporters, Morgan-Brown identified as association with the Catapult! collective, and a “Matthew Morgan” has in the past been a frequent contributor to the same website where the RBC fire bombing video was first posted.

Charges were also laid against Clement and Haridge by Ottawa police in relation to an earlier incident where another Ottawa RBC branch was damaged, using rocks and a hammer.

According to police, the ammunition Haridge allegedly possessed illegally was 7.62mm, which is a common military calibre used for light and medium machineguns. The ammunition is also available to civilian markets, usually referred to as .308 calibre.

All the accused men had bail hearings Saturday and were remanded. They will appear again in court later this month.

Ottawa police said they were assisted by Ontario Provincial Police and the RCMP in the investigation. Media reports have also said that the three men were under police surveillance not long after the bank bombing.

RBC branches across Canada have been targeted numerous times in recent months by anti-capitalism and other groups, in the lead up to the Vancouver Olympics and to the G8 and G20 summits.

Scam University Shut Down

Posted on April 30, 2010 by Wellesley Consulting Services

Hawkesbury University, which operated out of a former restaurant, recently had their website shut down following a police investigation. Image: GOOGLE STREET VIEW

A fraudulent university in Ontario has been shut down following investigations by the Ontario Provincial Police and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, according to recent news reports.

Hawkesbury University was not a reigstered Private Career College, nor an accredited university or college. But that did not stop them from billing themselves as a school of “higher studies” according to a restraining order issued by the Superintendent of Private Career Colleges on April 19.

Less than two weeks earlier, discussions about the legitimacy of Hawkesbury University were taking place on a Facebook page related to The Vankleek Hill Review, a community newspaper serving the area around Hawkesbury. An April 7 posting by The Review’s editors show that attempts to contact the “school” at their listed phone number were unsuccessful. A day later, The Review ran a story about the OPP investigation into the scam school.

According to Ministry documents, the scam school is also associated with a business called the Hawkesbury Mosque, at the same location, a former restaurant. In the Ministry’s restraining order, the business is believed to have been advertising unapproved vocation programs, and was advertising an unregistered Private Career College.

It is an offence under the Private Career Colleges Act to operate an unregistered Private Career College. A Private Career College includes any vocational training school that offers programs that exceed 40 hours of training, cost more than a specified amount, or offer training in specific trades or studies. Fines for violations can reach $100,000 per offence for corporations, or $25,000 for persons.

The “university” ran a website, which has now been shut down. Before going offline, the site had been altered to advertise itself as only “proposed”. However, according to an Ottawa Sun story, the website had previously listed complete course and program listings, and on campus accomodations.

The university and the mosque are affiliated with Ashraf Siddiky. An email address used by Siddiky has also been used as a contact for job offers posted online, including one seeking an Imam for the Hawkesbury Mosque, identified in the ad as a numbered corporation – 4260163 Ontario, that was posted on workhalal.com. The same email address also identified Siddiky as an out-of-province commissioner of oaths registered in Quebec, but using a Hawkesbury address.

Toronto to Host G20 in 2010

Posted on December 7, 2009 by Wellesley Consulting Services

Toronto is now confirmed as the site of the G20 summit next year. Image: WELLESLEY CONSULTING SERVICES

The Prime Minister’s Office has confirmed that Toronto will be the location of the G20 summit next June.

The summit, which will run June 26 and 27, was originally to have been held in Huntsville, the location of the next G8 summit the same month.

The relocation of the G20 summit is expected to have significant security requirements and a noticeable impact on residents in Canada’s largest city. During the 1988 G7 summit, which was also held in Toronto, security was handled by the RCMP and Toronto Police, involving hundreds of officers, patrolling helicopters, motorcades, road closures and logistics.

Next years’ summit is expected to be larger than the Pittsburgh G20 summit, held earlier this year, and according to some sources required 4,000 rooms for accommodating leaders, staff, media, and other personnel.

Large summits also give an opportunity to showcase the latest in security technology, and the Toronto G20, as well as the Muskoka G8, are expected to be no different. Toronto has already implemented CCTV monitoring in key public areas, and partner agencies have already tried and tested personnel screening technology such as “see through” X-ray scanners, which are already being implemented in Canadian airports.

Security is expected to be coordinated by the G8 Integrated Security Unit (ISU), an RCMP, OPP and military partnership modelled after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics ISU.

No location has been announced for the Toronto G20, although it is likely a single facility will be chosen for the majority of the events. The Metro Toronto Convention Centre was the host of the 1988 G7 summit, and could likely reprise its role. It is a large facility located downtown in close proximity to major hotels and has ready access to highways and downtown transit networks.

The Canadian National Exhibition grounds have both the Direct Energy Centre and the newer, 160,000 sq. ft. Allstream Centre, both of which are capable of hosting large events, and can be isolated to enhance security.

The CNE grounds also have an advantage of being located close to the Billy Bishop Airport, located on Toronto Island, and two military establishments located nearby can provide support and facilities for security personnel.

Finally, Downsview Park – also located in proximity to an airport, which occupies the same site – is another possible location for the summit. Security requirements would be made simple, since it is a former military base, and military facilities still exist there. While the facility lacks indoor conference space, several large events have been held there in the past that required temporary facilities built, including World Youth Day in 2002.

Protester presence could be very high, since isolation of the G8 site in Huntsville may result in protest groups choosing a more accessible and more impactful site to carry out demonstrations. Toronto has the largest population in Canada, is an hour from the U.S. border, and is an air travel hub.