#arrest #fraudster #stolen
The instinct of a septuagenarian who had just had her first $5,000 stolen in a “grandparent” type fraud led to the arrest of a double-life paramedic who came to her house to collect an additional $5,000.
Gill-Karl Harvey admitted guilt in the fraud scheme. The Charlevoix ambulance driver received a conditional discharge from the court at the end of March for his involvement in the network which caused at least 5 victims in Quebec and Baie-Saint-Paul. (See other text)
The accused acted as a messenger responsible for recovering envelopes of money after the people who had recruited him had done the work of smooth talkers. A rating was given to him on the amounts collected.
In the spring of 2022, the fraudsters called Louise Desrosiers, a woman from Baie-Saint-Paul, to inform her that her grandson had been involved in a road accident and that he had been arrested. A fraudster pretended to be his grandson so convincingly that the lady’s son and granddaughter were also fooled. Then another fraudster pretends to be the lawyer who would have been assigned to him.
Quickly, the amount of the deposit was announced at $5,000, an amount that the 76-year-old woman agreed to withdraw from her financial institution.
Some nerve
A young woman comes to her house to collect the $5,000 in an envelope. The next day, however, the fraudsters had the nerve to follow up Ms. Desrosiers for another $5,000.
This is where the septuagenarian started to doubt. Managing to contact his grandson, he explained to him that nothing had happened to him and that she had been defrauded.
The woman then said to herself that she was going to catch the fraudsters at their own game.
“I told them I was waiting for them with another $5,000, except that I called the police saying to hurry up because the guy was coming to get the money,” she said, describing the incident. sequel like a real police undercover operation.
25 000$
For this second visit, it was Gill-Karl Harvey who was mandated to collect the $5,000 from Louise Desrosiers. However, it was the Sûreté du Québec police officers who were waiting for him.
The investigation showed that the woman from Baie-Saint-Paul was the fifth person to receive a visit from the fraudster. A total of $25,000 was disbursed to the victims, always with the same modus operandi.
“They all told us the same story,” said a man from Quebec who was also robbed of $5,000. “We are cheated. I thought they were so tough, losing $5,000 is a real blow,” confides the man who didn’t tell anyone in his family about this affair, particularly because of shame.
“Call the police”
Louise Desrosiers chose to speak. This is what makes him feel like he is doing something useful with the passage of these fraudsters in his life.
The woman went around to the financial institutions in her area to warn them to be attentive to withdrawals of large sums made by seniors.
“Take the time to check in with your children or grandchildren. Or call the police directly if you are not sure,” she advises, deploring that the scourge is becoming more and more widespread.
Fraudulent ambulance driver: A commission agent who avoids prison
Ambulance worker in Charlevoix, Gill-Karl Harvey benefited from the court’s leniency so that he could retain the possibility of holding his job given his “limited responsibility” in the fraud which made it possible to extract $25,000 from five victims aged 79 to 84 years old.
Harvey acted as a mule for the fraudsters. He was recruited while working as a doorman at a bar while on sick leave from his job as a paramedic.
“He had the opportunity to make money by participating in what was presented to him as a job picking envelopes,” explained Judge Mario Tremblay during the sentencing, emphasizing that the accused hadn’t asked any more questions, choosing to “turn a blind eye” to what he was really doing.
Message to fraudsters
Even if the pre-sentence report filed alongside the observations on the sentence states that there is “no convincing proof of rehabilitation”, observes the judge, the latter chose to side with the arguments of the lawyer of defense, Me Julie Bégin.
The Crown prosecutor, Me Franceline Lamoureux-Auclair, recommended the imposition of an overall sentence of seven and a half months of detention, or 45 days per victim.
Indicating that this suggestion from the public prosecutor was “neither too severe nor unreasonable”, Judge Tremblay nevertheless opted for the path of rehabilitation by pronouncing a conditional discharge on probation and reimbursement of part of the stolen sum. to the victims.
“The defense attorney had insisted that an absolution could allow Harvey to regain his job as an ambulance driver and a little of his dignity,” observed the magistrate during the hearing at the end of March.
Despite everything, Judge Tremblay sent a clear message to the fraudsters who had recruited Gill-Karl Harvey, the real perpetrators of these crimes “whose greed knows no bounds.”
“The greatest betrayal is the abuse of trust of all these victims who harbor good feelings. It is a poison that instils distrust of any form of solicitation, including mutual aid and charity which we still really need,” lamented Mario Tremblay.
Increasingly frequent crimes
Fraud victims in 2023 in Canada
7908
Financial losses linked to fraud in 2023 in Canada
569M$
Losses linked to grandparent fraud
23M$
How to protect yourself?
- If the suspicious call concerns a family member, hang up and try to speak to that person directly
- If the person on the call claims to be a police officer or other person responsible for enforcing the law, contact your local police department directly to verify
- Do not trust the numbers on the display, they can be falsified
- Be wary of calls requesting immediate or quick action, such as paying bail. Don’t get carried away by emotion.
- Be careful what you post online. This information allows fraudsters to find information about your loved ones that helps them make you feel confident at the time of the fraud.
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