Punjab-origin couple held for fraud in Canada

TORONTO: A Punjab-origin couple has been arrested for allegedly running an overseas telephone scam in which crooks posing as tax officials duped people of around ₹90.68 crore, a media report said on Saturday.

Brampton-based Gurinderpreet Dhaliwal, 37, and his wife Inderpreet Dhaliwal, 36, were arrested on Saturday and charged with fraud and moneylaundering, while an arrest warrant has been issued against their alleged partner Shantanu Manik, 26, who is believed to be in India, City News website, a Canada-based news portal, reported.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said the fraudsters were targeting Canadians since 2014 by calling and identifying themselves as representatives from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) or RCMP, the report said. “The scammers then tell the person on the phone that they owe back taxes, and threaten them if they don’t pay back,” the paper reported.

The RCMP said between 2014 and 2019, Canadians lost over 16.8 million (₹90.8 crore) Canadian dollars to the scam and it has resulted in people being very suspicious when the CRA contacts them via legitimate ways.

The RCMP said their investigation into the scam uncovered money mules operating in Canada. These mules would be ordered to courier proceeds from the scam to a specific name and address, or drop point, which led investigators to the Dhaliwal couple, RCMP’S inspector Jim Ogden said.

As part of the arrests, RCMP seized 26,000 Canadian dollars, packages allegedly used to receive victims’ money, and jewellery worth 1,14,000 Canadian dollars. Through the investigation and working with authorities in India, a number of raids have also been carried out on call centres in India, the RCMP said.

WERE RUNNING AN OVERSEAS SCAM IN WHICH CROOKS POSING AS TAX OFFICIALS DUPED PEOPLE OF ₹91 CRORE