|
|
Selected Press Release
Toronto, May 22, 2009 — The Competition Bureau announced on May 22, 2009 that Lookman Temidayo Adegbola has been found guilty of operating an employment opportunity scam involving counterfeit cheques. The following information was taken directly from the Competition Bureau media release:
“Scams involving counterfeit cheques have become one of the most prevalent type of frauds in North America,” said Andrea Rosen, Deputy Commissioner of Competition. “We are working with our partners to promote confidence in the marketplace. These scams are a particular concern since they target unemployed people anxious to earn money in the current economic climate.”
The victims, located in the United States, were led to believe they had been hired as secret shoppers to evaluate the services of MoneyGram, an international money transfer service. They were provided with cheques and instructed to deposit them in their own accounts, then withdraw the money and wire it to Canada under the pretext of assessing the customer service provided by the money transfer outlet.
The cheques were subsequently identified as counterfeit. When the banks reversed the counterfeit deposits, the victims were left liable for the money withdrawn. Victims reported losses ranging from $2,400 (USD) to $9,000 (USD) each.
Following a trial by judge and jury in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Adegbola, 33, was found guilty of a number of offences pursuant to the Criminal Code: fraud over $5000; forgery; possession of instruments of forgery; and uttering forged documents. Sentencing for Adegbola will take place on September 15, 2009.
MSPA has been working with and supporting efforts to pursue the scammers who have been using mystery shopping as their lure. For more information, click here.
About the MSPA With more than 275 member companies worldwide, the MSPA has a diverse membership, including marketing research and merchandising companies, private investigation firms, training organizations and companies that specialize in providing mystery shopping services. Its goals are to establish professional standards and ethics for the industry, educate providers, clients and shoppers to improve quality of service, improve the image of the industry and promote the membership to other industry associations and prospective clients.
|
||||||||
 |