Quebec will finally be able to recover the $1.3 million that fraudsters stole from it this summer by hacking the bank details of a contractor with whom it was doing business for the expansion of a hospital in Sherbrooke.
This is what Judge Alicia Soldevila of the Superior Court ordered in her decision rendered on December 28 in favor of the Société québécoise des infrastructures (SQI).
In 2021, Entreprises Eric Dostie, an entrepreneur from Sherbrooke, had obtained contracts totaling $17 million as part of the redevelopment of the mother-child center at Hôpital Fleurimont, located in the same city.
ANDRE KIEFFER/QMI AGENCY
In all, the project is valued at $343.4 million. According to the latest estimates, it should end in 2024.
Last summer, while the contractor was in the middle of the work, his computer system was hacked.
Using a fraudulent email address, the hackers were then able to communicate on behalf of Entreprises Dostie with the SQI, responsible for making payments for the site.
The fraudsters asked the state-owned company to modify the bank details so that the payments are transferred directly to their account, mentioned in an affidavit the director general of financial management of the SQI, Paolo Houle.
The funds were then diverted to the account of Jean Veuilleux inc. However, it is a fraudulent identity that has no legal existence in Quebec or Canada.
ANDRE KIEFFER/QMI AGENCY
In July and August, the SQI made four payments into Jean Veuilleux’s account for a total of nearly $1.4 million, we can learn from a series of judgments rendered by the Superior Court in which the state-owned company tried to find the lost funds.
Stratagem foiled
During the last payment on August 30, Les Entreprises Dostie mentioned to the SQI that it had not received a payment since June.
“From this moment, the SQI and Dostie understand the scheme and the fraud that seems to come from the hacking of Dostie’s system,” Judge Soldevila said this fall.
The fraudulent bank account, which was hosted by TD Bank, was then immediately frozen. The individual behind this account was only able to withdraw $5,000 before it was suspended.
SCREENSHOT / VAT NEWS / QMI AGENCY
Construction work on the Mother-Child Center and the new CHUS Fleurimont emergency room, in Sherbrooke, Estrie, on June 25, 2021
There followed a series of legal proceedings aimed at locating the fraudster, whose only clues to his identity were in the information provided to the financial institution to open the bank account.
However, a bailiff confirmed that Jean Veuilleux did not reside at the address in Alberta appearing on the TD Bank account. The email address used to open the account was also no longer valid.
Judge Alicia Soldevila of the Superior Court therefore ordered the TD Bank to return to the SQI the sum remaining in the account in question, that is to say almost all of the funds defrauded to the State.