A 59-year-old man was convicted of fraud and possession of property obtained by crime for defrauding Canada Post of $235,000 in stamps and prepaid products, reports the National Post.
The verdict fell on Friday for this scheme which was described as “elaborate and sophisticated” by the judge of the Superior Court of Ontario, Spencer Nicholson.
Between 2013 and 2016, Allan Fischer created 48 fake business accounts, with fake emails, phone numbers and addresses, across Canada in order to send bulk mail using the postal service.
After requesting bulk mailing service from Canada Post, the fraudster was granted urgent status allowing him to order up to $7,500 of products on credit without having to check the creditworthiness of his “company”.
Once his new account was created, he would order stamps and prepaid products to ship items to UPS mailboxes he had opened throughout Southwestern Ontario, and he would never pay his accounts.
In addition, Mr. Fischer sold fraudulently obtained stamps at a discount to people who had seen his advertisements on Village.
The Postal Service grew suspicious of him when it noticed over fifty unpaid business accounts for stamps obtained. However, he was unable to reach the client at the telephone numbers he had provided.
The 50-year-old’s computers and electronic devices were then seized by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The defendant’s sentence will be determined on August 17.