Two men from the Greater Toronto Area have been charged in connection with a collaborative fraud investigation into schemes targeting businesses and individuals, many of whom were American lawyers.
A joint investigation called “Project Under,” between Toronto and York Region officers, as well as investigators from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Homeland Security, began in July 2018.
In a news release issued Monday, the Toronto Police Service said the suspects allegedly “participated in a scheme to defraud individuals and businesses using stolen/altered business cheques.”
Toronto police say the suspects posed as legitimate customers and sought services that required payments deposited into the accounts of the alleged victims.
According to police, the suspects provided the individual or business with “high denomination altered cheques” that were then placed into bank accounts.
The cheques were later deemed to be forgeries and the individuals or businesses would be responsible for covering the costs.
Police say that many of the victims targeted were American lawyers who provided business-related services.
Search warrants were executed on Sept. 26 at five locations in Toronto, Peel and York Region.
Two suspects were taken into custody. Pius Idahosa, 48, of Vaughan and Otis Idahosa, 54, of Toronto, have each been charged with defrauding the public of over $5,000, using forged documents, possessing instruments of forgery and forged documents, forgery, and possessing proceeds obtained by a crime under $5,000.
They are both scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.
None of the charges has been proven in court.
In the news release, investigators reminded businesses to confirm that cheques provided by customers are legitimate before depositing them in to an account.
