Fraud Charge Withdrawn After Lawyer Proves Client Was Unwitting Middleman in Online Scam

The victim in this matter was interested in purchasing a product from the online fake retailer. The fake retailer/fraudster then directed the victim to make eTransfer payment to YC’s email address.  The victim was under the impression her money was eTransferred to the retailer. Meanwhile, the fraudster told YC that the eTransfer was from them and was for the foreign currency exchange.

The victim waited for the product to arrive, which never happened. The victim then realized she was defrauded and called the police. The police applied for a production order and received all banking details of the account that received the victim’s E-Transfer. To no one’s surprise, YC was the account holder. Police then decided to charge YC for fraud.

YC’s fraud charge was eventually withdrawn by the Crown as Jake pointed out that, despite YC’s account received the victim’s money, the evidence was insufficient to prove YC made a false representation to the victim. In other words, there was not enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that YC created the fake online retail business, and YC was also the person who told the victim that he had products for sale.