Officials in Saskatchewan and Alberta are investigating three people for allegedly bilking thousands of dollars from unsuspecting victims in a so-called Nigerian letter scam.
The securities division of the Saskatchewan Financial Services Commission said Wednesday it had issued a cease-trade order against a Saskatchewan man, two Calgary men and a Calgary company, after a Saskatoon man lost $150,000.
Both Saskatoon and Calgary police have launched their own criminal investigations.
Donald McCarl of Borden, Sask., and Gerald James Deitsch, Robert Steven Kondrat and Scenic Investments Inc. of Calgary are prohibited from trading in all securities.
“While the Nigerian letter fraud is a widely known scheme, there are many people picking it up and promoting it on their own,” Vic Pankratz, deputy director of the commission’s enforcement branch, said in an interview.
The case is only one piece of a much larger puzzle spread out across international borders, he said.
In the scam, letters are sent by mail, e-mail, or by fax to unsuspecting persons from someone pretending to be a government official of an African country, usually Nigeria.
The sender says they have between $20 million to $30 million and need help getting it out of the country.
This help initially only requires the victim to identify a local bank account into which the money can be transferred.
In exchange, the individual is promised about 10 per cent of the total.
Another request comes soon after. This time the victim is asked to send money, under the pretext of paying off some government official to allow the transfer of funds, or to pay some bank or customs fees.
These requests range from $10,000 to $100,000.
If the money is paid, more requests for money are made. The cycle repeats itself as long as the individual pays.
Saskatoon police said they are investigating a man for fraud after receiving a complaint in December from someone claiming to be bilked of $153,000. Police would not confirm the identity of the suspect.
Meanwhile, Det. Tim Potter of Calgary police said Kondrat has been charged with one count each of fraud over $5,000 and uttering a forged document.
The complainant behind those charges was a major bank that was allegedly defrauded of a “substantial amount of money,” said the police detective, only saying it was more than $500,000.
“There’s been some recovery of funds, but there’s still a great deal that has not been recovered,” he said.
Scenic Investments Inc. is also being investigated by police, he said.
Calgary police said Deitsch is not under criminal investigation.
“The public should be wary of any investment scheme that promises unusually large returns, where money has to be sent out of the country and, or, requires secrecy, where you are required to allow someone else to use your bank account,” said Pankratz.
“Hardly a week goes by that we don’t receive a copy from the general public of a Nigerian letter solicitation,” he said.
CNews
