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Canada Post business analysts began calling it “The Stamp Guy.”
(Postmedia Network)
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Canada Post business analysts began calling it “The Stamp Guy.”
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For at least three years, Alan Fisher, 59, has been creating fake business accounts with fake phone numbers, addresses and emails across Canada for mass mail with postal services.
First, he called the Canada Post for a fax application for mass mail services. The application will be completed and returned, usually requiring a quick action status, which allows the counterfeit company to order up to $ 7,500 products on credit without checking the credit.
Once Fischer had a new account, he would give up all bulk mail services and simply order stamps and prepaid products to be shipped to various UPS stores where there were mailboxes in southwestern Ontario.
And he would never pay the bills.
On Friday, Fisher was convicted of fraud and possession of property obtained through a crime worth more than $ 5,000 for what Supreme Court Judge Spencer Nicholson called a “complex and complicated scheme.”
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Between 2013 and 2016, using 48 fake business addresses, Fisher defrauded Canadian Post with $ 234,763.31 in stamps and other products. He sold the brands at a discount to various customers, some of whom found him online through Kijiji ads.
Fisher’s scheme was so complex that the judge said he could not reach “any other conclusion that his action was intentional and intended to receive Canadian Post products without paying for them.”
The scheme had many layers. Fisher rented mailboxes in southwestern Ontario in London, St. Thomas, Tilsonberg, Woodstock, Cambridge, Chatham, and Waterloo and would ship Canada Post products to counterfeit companies in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia and Nova Scotia.
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The Canadian Post Office became suspicious when it began looking at 50 to 60 unpaid business accounts, all for unpaid printing products, and was unable to contact customers via that phone number.
Google searches will be empty and businesses or companies either do not exist or the specified address does not match.
A Canadian post inspector began reviewing 30 of the bills in May 2016. One of the addresses was at the Executive Center in central London, where the inspector was able to find out Fisher’s name and see him pick up packages in his car.
The last 11 orders for business across the country have been shipped to this address.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has been called in to investigate the activity spreadsheets drawn by the Canada Post. They also had nine audio recordings of someone with a similar voice calling Canadian Post to create new business accounts using different names and addresses and then ordering the stamps.
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Also suspicious in the applications were similar answers to selected security questions. Several times the brand of the first car was Datsun, the name of the first friend was Connie, the favorite concert was Blue Rodeo, and the favorite book was Think and Grow Rich.
At least three times the same telephone number has been used for counterfeit companies in Regina, Barry and Winnipeg,
During the trial earlier this year, where Fisher represented without a lawyer, Nicholson heard from customers who would buy stamps at a 30% discount – and sometimes still owe them money – and employees who had been interviewed in cafes. of Tim Horton, be low office help or web designers to add legitimacy to his business relationship.
Members of a non-profit group who were unknowingly identified in an Executive Center mailbox for Canadian Post supplies also testified.
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Eventually, the RCMP seized Fisher’s computers and electronic devices and found applications from the Canadian Post and other records. There was evidence of 48 fake accounts.
Fisher’s defense was that he ran a legitimate centralized business, “doing a lot of work” for customers across the country.
“I reject these allegations. I found that the participating companies did not exist or were created by Mr. Fisher, “said Nicholson.
“It doesn’t make any sense for a company located in Abbotsford, British Columbia, or Calgary, Alberta, to be more comfortable with the product being delivered to Chatham.
He agreed with Assistant Royal Advocate Adam Campbell that if Fischer had done business with the companies, “there would be emails between Mr. Fisher and his business and those entities found on his devices.”
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Investigators found no reports or invoices.
“I found that Mr. Fisher was the mastermind of a complex and complex Canadian Post fraud,” Nicholson said.
“To cover up his scheme, Mr. Fischer tried to create basic information to prove the existence of counterfeit businesses. . . . As complicated as this scheme was, Mr. Fischer was captured and is now convicted. “
Before setting a date for the sentence, Fischer asked the judge how the next phase would affect the appeal process.
Fisher’s sentence is scheduled for August 17.
jsims@postmedia.com
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