What began as a promise to help secure financing quickly turned into a costly lesson for a Guelph resident. Police say fraudulent cheques were deposited and withdrawn before the bank flagged them – leaving the victim responsible for the loss.
A Brampton man has been arrested after a Guelph man was defrauded of more than $31,000.
Last summer, the victim was introduced to the suspect through a mutual friend. The victim was interested in applying for a business loan and the other man offered to help with the process.
The two set up a registered company and opened a company bank account. During this process the victim provided information including his banking details and social insurance number.
In December, two unknown individuals deposited a number of fraudulent cheques into the account and immediately withdrew the funds before the cheques were returned, leaving the victim’s account with a negative balance of more than $31,000.
When the victim confronted the suspect he stopped responding.
On Monday a 33-year-old Brampton man was arrested for fraud over $5,000. He will appear in court June 2. (Occurrence number GU26015580)