Toronto police warn about ongoing work from home scam

TORONTO -- Toronto police are warning the public about an ongoing work from home scam that is stealing large sums of money from victims.

A suspect reportedly posts an online job on an employment website and asks applicants to accept money through an e-transfer or deposit a cheque, police said.

The applicant is then told to withdraw money from their own account and to deposit the money into a Bitcoin machine.

However, the cheques that were deposited are not honoured by the bank and the applicant is left with substantial debt, police said.

In addition, the e-transfer is later discovered to have been fraudulently obtained.

It is unknown how many victims have been affected by this scam.

“The Toronto Police Service is reminding the public that accepting money derived from fraud is a crime and is subject to prosecution under the Criminal Code,” police said in a news release on Thursday.

“It is best practice to thoroughly research any prospective employers and cast doubt on any activity that requires you to deal with quantities of money or cryptocurrency in a work from home setting.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Det. Const. Elliott Lee at 416-808-5179 or [e-mail].