It’s 2012, and the Burnaby RCMP’s economic crime unit has been called by SFU to investigate one of its biggest cases.
A former finance director for the science faculty is suspected of scamming the university out of more than $800,000.
SFU gets its own proof of the crime through a forensic audit, but it then turns to the economic crime unit and lead investigator RCMP Const. Anna Taylor to make the criminal case.
She reviews the material and discovers the finance director was using shell companies to funnel the money.
“They (SFU) presented us with the case, and we take it and do whatever investigational steps we find necessary,” Taylor told the NOW, recalling the details of the investigation.
Eventually, Siamak Saidi pleads guilty to one count of forgery and one count of fraud over $5,000 in connection to the SFU case. He gets a four-year jail sentence for the crime.
It’s one of the higher profile cases for the economic crime unit and Taylor, who has been a member of the three-person unit inside the Burnaby detachment for six years.
It’s all in a day’s work for the unit in charge of investigating economic crime in the city.
“It’s always great when you can find that piece of information that allows you to forward the charge,” she said.
Actually, it’s not all that simple. Taylor said many of the investigations can be both very lengthy and complicated. The cases can span jurisdictions and involve a number of suspects.
The unit’s mandate is to conduct its own investigations into financial crimes in Burnaby and assist the detachment with resources for other units with their investigations.
The files can vary for the unit, from a senior losing money to an Internet scam, a prolific offender on a credit-card stealing spree, or major institutions dealing with internal employee fraud. The unit also investigates arsons.
In more recent times, Taylor said the unit has seen a lot of elder-abuse cases where a caretaker or family member cleans the victim out of their life savings.
“You really empathize with the elder abuse ones, because that’s their life savings,” she said. “It’s really hard to see them lose everything.”
The unit also spends some of its time on education and prevention.
On Thursday, Taylor and her unit took part in a fraud awareness forum aimed at seniors and put on by Burnaby RCMP and the city.
Police suggest elder fraud and financial exploitation is a growing problem and is often under-reported.
Taylor said it’s important to communicate to the public how things have changed and how easy it is for the crooks to commit fraud.
In the case of Internet scams, Taylor said the unit tries to investigate the cases as best they can with the information they have – which means following an IP address, tracking number, even a name – but it’s very difficult to identify the suspect, and when the money is gone, it’s gone.
“(We spend time) just talking to people. Letting them know how important it is to protect their personal information seems to be one of the biggest things we do,” she said. “Often we’re dealing with people after the fact, so it’s kind of a lesson hard learned for them.”
And much like any crime, Mounties in the unit encourage anyone who thinks they’ve been scammed to give them a call.
Though some people think even a small con isn’t worth the trouble, Taylor suggested it could be part of a larger scam. She said the more people that come forward, the better idea the team can get of the magnitude of a particular scam.
While seniors may often be the target fraud, Taylor has seen enough to know anyone can fall victim to a scam.
“A lot of them appear professional in what they’re doing, so it’s easy for anyone to be taken for a ride or believe what they’re saying,” she said.
“They’re very good at what they do, it’s easy for anyone (to fall for it).”
Beware: These are top scams being used today
There is probably not a more embarrassing feeling than knowing you’ve been scammed out of your hard-earned money.
So Burnaby RCMP, marking March as Fraud Prevention Month, have provided the top scams locally and information in an effort to help the public avoid falling for a scam.
Canada revenue agency Scams
An ongoing scam, in which scammers impersonating Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) employees contact taxpayers by phone or email. The scammers advise taxpayers that they owe the CRA money, or that they will be receiving a tax refund, in order to get their personal information. Scammers often “spoof” the phone number they are calling from, in order to convince taxpayers that they are receiving a legitimate call from the CRA.
If you receive a call or email telling you that you owe money to the CRA, hang up and call the CRA’s official telephone number directly (1-800-959-8281) or log in to My Account on the CRA website (www.cra-arc.gc.ca) to confirm if you have a balance owing.
The CRA will not send you an email requesting your personal information, as it is already on file.
Bank Investigator Scam
In this scam, the victim receives a telephone call from a scammer who claims to be from the victim’s bank or from a police agency. The scammer tells the victim that they are investigating an internal theft and that they need the victim’s assistance in catching the thief. The victim is asked to withdraw a large sum of money from his or her bank account and to bring it to an arranged meeting place to give to the scammer to be “inspected” and used as evidence in the “investigation.” The victim is also advised not to tell staff at the branch why they are withdrawing the money, because the staff member being investigated works at their branch.
Mounties say that neither banks nor police request assistance from their clients in this way and that if you do receive such a telephone call, you should report it immediately to the police.
Emergency scam (grandparent scam)
The scammer will make a call to a senior and begin by asking if the victim if they know who it is. The victim, believing the caller to be one of their grandchildren, will provide the name and the scammer begins to use the name. The crook claims that he or she is in trouble, and urgently needs money. The two most common scenarios are that the “grandchild” has been arrested and is in jail, needing bail money, or that they have been in a car accident.
The “grandchild” will also ask the victim to keep it a secret, as they don’t want their parents to know.
Often, the scammer will put someone else on the phone, who impersonates a police officer or lawyer, to gain credibility with the victim. The victim is often asked to wire the money through a money transfer service, which allows the scammer to pick up the funds at any location around the world.
Wi-Fi hotspot scam
Criminals looking to steal your personal information can set up a hot spot near a location that provides Wi-Fi to its customers. They will give it the name “free Wi-Fi” or choose a name similar to the legitimate network near you, to trick you into accessing the Internet through their connection.
Once you are online, the criminals can then see everything you are doing, from online banking to emails. If your device is set up to allow file sharing, criminals can also access your personal files and data and can also install spyware on your device.
