Members of Ontario's Serious Fraud Office arrested two more people as part of a criminal investigation into a door-to-door sales fraud which allegedly victimized more than 200 people across Ontario, in some cases bilking homeowners out of their homes with fraudulent mortgages.
The scheme was discovered in Collingwood in 2021. Collingwood OPP officers were investigating the scam and referred it to the OPP Serious Fraud Office in 2022, which renamed the investigation Project Nettle.
On Tuesday, the OPP announced two more arrests, a 29-year-old and a 39-year-old, both from the Greater Toronto Area. The arrests were made on Oct. 15 and 17.
Austin Acheson, 29, of Woodbridge, has been charged with two counts of fraud over $5,000.
Danielle Harrison, 39, of Mississauga, has been charged with three counts of fraud over $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000.
Both were released from custody and will appear in court in November to face the charges.
None of the allegations have been tested in court and they are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
So far, police have confirmed four arrests as part of Project Nettle.
In September, the OPP arrested and charged Rajivan Thillainadarajah, 39 of Mississauga and Sajjad Ahmad, 40, of Scarborough. They both face charges of fraud over $5,000 and Thillainadarajah also faces charges related to laundering proceeds of crime, possessing proceeds of crime and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.
At that time, a Canada-wide warrant was issued for Anas Ayyoub, 23, of Toronto, for Muhammad Waqar Afzal, 33, of Pickering, and for Muhammad Wasiq Afzal, 28, of Scarborough. All are wanted on charges of fraud over $5,000, laundering and possession of proceeds and property obtained by crime, and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.
The alleged fraud begins as a door-to-door sales offer for services, installations, and/or renovations advertised as "free" because of government grants or rebates.
"Organizers of this fraud then used the fake agreements to register Notice of Security Interest's (NOSIs), also known as liens, against victims' homes without their knowledge. Later, these NOSIs were paid off to the benefit of the organizers using fraudulent, high-interest mortgages against the victims' homes. In many cases, this fraud left the victims in financial peril; and in some cases, forced the victims to sell their homes," stated police in a news release.
Det. Sgt. Jason Lloyd explained during an interview with CollingwoodToday in February, 2023, he's been investigating this mortgage fraud scam since it was first discovered in Collingwood when police began investigating what, at first glance, appeared to be a civil case involving a homeowner and a contractor renovating the home.
The mortgage fraud was soon identified as a mult-faceted scam involving door-to-door sales, a secret remortgaging scheme done without the homeowner’s knowledge, and shoddy home renovations. Its victims are all over Ontario.
Unknowingly, people have taken out mortgages on their homes, only to have the homes taken away when payments are not made. The owner of the home is often never aware payments are due.
According to Lloyd, the victims are most often elderly people who believe they’re signing a service contract to get out of payments for things like air conditioner units or air purifiers.
And the scam started years ago when those air conditioners were first installed.
A door-to-door salesperson will later convince a homeowner they are overpaying for those services, and present some way they can get money back, for example through a class-action lawsuit.
The homeowner will later speak with a lawyer, often virtually, and will be prompted by the salesperson (who is off-camera) to answer specific questions a certain way.
“They believe they’re signing a legal contract to get out of payments, when in fact they’re actually signing mortgage documents,” says Lloyd. “It is a legal mortgage, but it’s been done fraudulently.”
Later, a cheque will arrive, disguised as the winnings of the fake lawsuit, but the money will be from the refinanced mortgage, which the homeowner still isn’t aware of.
“It’s their own money,” says Lloyd. “Then what they say is that the courts have ruled … you’ve won this sum of money … but the courts have ruled that part of this reward money that you’ve been given, needs to be invested into your house.”
They’ll be told the condition of their winning the lawsuit is to use some of the money for a home renovation. The home renovation contractors will over-charge, but because it’s less than the full amount they received from the scam, often homeowners will agree to it.
They are given options for what they can or can’t do in the interest of a “sustainable home,” and they get a quote, which is lower than the amount they received.
“And they’re thinking, ‘wow, I got the work done, I got all this cash in the bank,’” says Lloyd. “But it’s their cash!”
Months, or years later, the mortgage defaults because of non-payment and the lenders take the home. Sometimes it can show up after a person dies and the home is in the estate but has a mortgage with a high interest and late fees attached to it. In some cases, people were forced to sell their homes.
“The contract that they sign, it’s a bunch of legal jargon, but if you read the fine print … the payments are due per annum and you don’t get any notice if you’ve defaulted on a payment,” says Lloyd. The interest rates are usually upwards of 25 per cent. “It’s scary. And we have victims like this all across Ontario.”
OPP investigators conducted more than 230 interviews for Project Nettle, and victims of the fraud were offered support from victim services throughout the process.
As a result of this fraud investigations, the OPP are advising the public they can check for NOSIs registered against their home by purchasing a copy of your parcel register through the Ontario Land Registry Access at www.onland.ca.
"If you find a NOSI against your home, the newly enacted Homeowner Protection Act deems all consumer NOSIs registered before June 6, 2024, to be expired and allows them to be removed by registering an application to delete an expired NOSI through a lawyer," states the OPP news release issued in September.
"The Consumer Protection Act also allows you to withdraw from a contract within one year and get a full refund if a business or individual has misrepresented a product or service. Products or services sold door-to-door also have a 'cooling off period' that allows you to cancel an agreement within 10 days."
The Serious Fraud Office had help and contributions from the following services: Collingwood OPP, Barrie Police, Durham Regional Police Service, Guelph Police, Hamilton Police Service, Ottawa Police Service, Peel Regional Police, Toronto Police Service, York Regional Police, Waterloo Regional Police Service, as well as The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC).
Investigators are asking anyone with additional information regarding this fraud to call the dedicated tip line at 1 (833) 941-5865 or email [email protected].
Anyone who suspects they have been the victim of any other fraud is urged to contact their local police or anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222- 8477 (TIPS) or online at www.ontariocrimestoppers.ca. You should also report to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 or through their online reporting system. For resources on scams and fraud, visit antifraudcentre-
