{"id":172380,"date":"2025-09-27T06:37:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T06:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/172380\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T06:37:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T06:37:21","slug":"people-like-carney-arent-the-only-targets-in-bank-crimes-you-are-too-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/172380\/","title":{"rendered":"People like Carney aren\u2019t the only targets in bank crimes. You are, too – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

The case of an Ottawa man charged with accessing the personal information of Prime Minister Mark Carney<\/a>\u00a0while working at RBC<\/a> underscores the growing reality faced by many Canadians whose sensitive data is being targeted by organized criminals, experts say.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Experts say those criminal efforts also raise national security concerns that require greater oversight and co-operation between law enforcement agencies across Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis story makes news because it\u2019s the prime minister, but Canadians are dealing with this every day,\u201d said Christian Leuprecht, a professor at Queen\u2019s University and the Royal Military College who studies national security and intelligence matters.<\/p>\n

The RCMP said Wednesday<\/a> that Ibrahim El-Hakim, 23, is accused of accessing \u201cseveral\u201d bank profiles without authorization, including the personal information of Carney.<\/p>\n

According to an RCMP affidavit filed in court in Montreal and obtained by Global News, El-Hakim is accused of accessing a banking profile belonging to a \u201cJustin Trudeau\u201d on June 17, the same day as Carney\u2019s profile.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

The RCMP has not confirmed if \u201cJustin Trudeau\u201d refers to the former prime minister or another individual with the same name.<\/p>\n

The affidavit alleges that the activity was quickly flagged internally by RBC\u2019s monitoring systems and caught on surveillance video, and the bank launched an investigation.<\/p>\n

According to the affidavit, El-Hakim admitted to RBC\u2019s security director that he had been creating fake banking profiles and obtaining lines of credit at the request of a person linked to a Telegram group known as AI WORLD, which the RCMP says is believed to be linked to organized crime.<\/p>\n

El-Hakim allegedly acknowledged he had received $500 for each fraudulent line of credit he opened and passed along to his alleged criminal contact, earning a total of approximately $5,000.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t0:36
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRBC employee allegedly accessed Mark Carney\u2019s banking information\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The affidavit includes a photo of what is alleged to be El-Hakim\u2019s phone showing a message police say came from the AI WORLD Telegram contact, providing a fake name and other personal details that were allegedly used to create a fraudulent account and obtain a line of credit of $3,000.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

The RCMP alleges El-Hakim defrauded RBC of a total of $68,500 by issuing and emptying fake credit cards starting as far back as November 2023, though the affidavit alleges a majority of the offences occurred in June of this year.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"For<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGet breaking National news<\/p>\n

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.<\/p>\n

It comes amid a growing volume of criminal activity targeting Canadians, with hundreds of millions of dollars lost to fraud each year.<\/p>\n

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre says $342 million has been lost by victims of fraud in the first six months of this year.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Canadians saw $647 million in fraud losses, up from $530 million in 2022 and $383 million in 2021.<\/p>\n

Superintendent of financial institutions Peter Routledge, the head of Canada\u2019s independent financial regulator, warned Thursday that security risks are rising amid shifting geopolitical and technological landscapes and that the industry needs to adapt quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat could be cyberthreats, could be third-party risk, it could be attacks from transnational criminal organizations, which often are called money laundering threats, it could be foreign interference,\u201d he said at an Institute of International Finance forum in Toronto.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe threats, the incoming attacks are rising in intensity and frequency, so invest to build up your defences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tHow does suspicious activity get flagged?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Telegram is often used by criminals because of its encryption features and the company\u2019s resistance to sharing information with law enforcement, according to researchers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

The company said last year that it would begin providing some data to authorities.<\/p>\n

A now-former employee of TD Bank\u2019s anti-money laundering unit in the U.S. was charged last year with sharing customers\u2019 personal information on Telegram<\/a>, in a case that appears similar to the one against El-Hakim.<\/p>\n

Eric Parent, a cybersecurity expert and CEO of EVA Technologies, said the RBC case\u2019s alleged connection to organized crime could mean there are other people involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy instinct and my experience tells me that if you\u2019re catching one, there\u2019s definitely more than one,\u201d he said in an interview.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tTrending Now\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tTrump sets 100% tariffs on pharmaceuticals, 25% on heavy trucks for Oct. 1\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tHow the Canada Post strike affects your mail, from passports to cheques\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Experts say financial institutions like RBC have robust internal systems to detect suspicious behaviour, although Parent says those measures can differ from bank to bank.<\/p>\n

In RBC\u2019s case, the RCMP affidavit says the internal banking portal El-Hakim had access to as a branch customer advisor \u201cis partially monitored.\u201d<\/p>\n

While searches themselves are not monitored, the affidavit says, the selection of specific clients is.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had (allegedly) done it numerous times, and then one of these people happened to be the prime minister,\u201d Parent said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1:13
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Same face but different names\u2019: Several arrests made in bank fraud with fake IDs\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The RCMP has not said if it believes Carney\u2019s personal information was shared with anyone after it was allegedly accessed, nor has it detailed if \u201cAI WORLD\u201d is connected to a foreign actor.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things that would concern me is that this is a foreign state actor who is attempting to access the prime minister\u2019s details, and I\u2019m sure this is exactly why they punted it to (INSET), because they would want to know whether the prime minister is being targeted for extortion,\u201d Leuprecht said.<\/p>\n

Leuprecht says more needs to be done to ensure banks, law enforcement, security and intelligence agencies and the government are aware of and preventing such activity from affecting all Canadians \u2014 not just political leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a significant increase in organized crime activity, and the government has not adjusted our national security framework accordingly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all live with the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Legislation passed last year gives the Canadian Security Intelligence Service more powers to collect information from institutions like banks, particularly in foreign interference investigations.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:11
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCSIS watchdog flags \u2018gaps\u2019 in flow of information\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The Strong Borders Act, or Bill C-2, introduced earlier this year would go further by allowing law enforcement agencies across federal, provincial and municipal jurisdictions to share information.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

The RCMP says El-Hakim could face additional charges as its investigation continues.<\/p>\n

El-Hakim is currently facing four criminal counts, including a charge of fraud over $5,000 that carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. None of the allegations have been proven in court.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s next due to appear in court in Ottawa on Oct. 1.<\/p>\n

\u2014 with files from Global\u2019s Touria Izri and The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore on Crime
\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The case of an Ottawa man charged with accessing the personal information of Prime Minister Mark Carney\u00a0while working…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48,2169,2659,55340,17042],"class_list":["post-172380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-crime","tag-mark-carney","tag-organized-crime","tag-rbc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}