Nine counts of fraud related charges laid against CRA scammer

B.C., Federal Serious and Organized Crime

2021-07-15 10:00 PDT

File # 2019-6709

As part of a multijurisdictional fraud investigation, the BC RCMP Federal Financial Integrity team has secured charges against a man operating out of the Greater Vancouver area.

In June of 2019, the BC RCMP Federal Financial Integrity team commenced an investigation into interprovincial and transnational crime groups. These groups were reaching out to unsuspecting citizens in Canada purporting to be representatives of the Canada Revenue Agency, bank and/or police investigators and software companies. The victims were instructed to send the scammers cash via courier companies. The investigation established that a 27-year-old Burnaby resident was allegedly party to an elaborate telemarketing scheme comprised of a group of four associates, who communicated on encrypted/unencrypted social messaging platforms. The man allegedly participated in the scheme of fraud and subsequent money laundering of seven victims who collectively lost $198,700, of which $90,000 was intercepted and returned to the victims.

Haoran Xue is charged with

• Fraud Over $5,000
• Party to Offence
• Theft Over $5,000
• Possession of Property Obtained by Crime
• Deal with Identity Document without Lawful Excuses
• Identity Theft
• Personation with Intent to Gain Advantage
• and multiple counts of Uttering Forged Document.

Xue fled Canada in August 2019 and a Warrant has been issued for his arrest.

In November 2019, the director of Civil Forfeiture took a legal action and filed a claim in the BC Supreme Court seeking forfeiture of a property associated to Xue in Burnaby BC, as proceeds and an instrument of unlawful activity. As a result, the said property was foreclosed by the court in late 2020, and the sale proceeds, aside from any holdbacks, were deposited into court to the credit of their action.

The dedicated work and determination of the Financial Integrity investigators who brought this national investigation to a positive result is commendable, said Superintendent Brent Taylor, Officer in Charge of BC RCMP Federal Serious & Organized Crime – Financial Integrity. The team worked through significant challenges and competing priorities to bring a complex and difficult investigation of a common scam to charge approval. Too often those who perpetrate these types of crime remain anonymous.

The RCMP investigative efforts to date indicate a cumulative loss of over $1 million from more than seventy victims in Canada and the United States. The serious criminal charges that Xue faces demonstrate our fulfillment of duty to combat this complex fraud network which operates with a sense of impunity and in a borderless nature. This modern-era fraud investigation which was led by RCMP O Division (Project OCTAVIA) presents a local, regional, national and international level of engagement ensuring public confidence that the RCMP can and will respond with an expectation of results.

The BC RCMP have and will continue to work with partners such as Canada Border Services Agency, BC Civil Forfeiture Office and the Canada Revenue Agency as well as other law enforcement agencies across Canada in order to address the victimization of all Canadians who were affected by this scam. The BC RCMP Federal Serious & Organized Crime is committed to investigating transnational organized crime and seeking justice for Canadians who have been victimized.

Released by

Sgt. Kris Clark

Email: bcfederalmedia@rcmp-grc.gc.ca

Follow Us:

bcrcmpnews

@bcrcmp

@bcrcmp