Thousands of Toronto residents? sensitive data have been compromised by Project Royal Fraud Ring. The extent of the compromise was discovered when police seized hundreds of pieces of mail, several notebooks containing the personal data of an estimated 5,000 GTA residents, and numerous credit cards.
Culprits Arrested
A Adenkule Johnson Omitiran of Toronto, 35, is currently facing charges and another person is still at large after Toronto police arrested two men in a huge fraud investigation that the police have dubbed Project Royal.
In a statement, the police shared that the arrested individuals lived high-profile lifestyles full of excesses. It is alleged that they funded their expenses from the proceeds of the fraudulent activities and identity theft they?ve committed.
37 stolen credit cards, hundreds of stolen mail, and numerous notebooks containing the personal details of approximately 5,000 GTA residents were found and seized by the police during the investigation. They were found on April 24 after the police were able to get a search warrant for a Yorkville condominium that is allegedly managed by Adenkule Johnson Omitiran.
Det. Const. Mike Kelly shared that the above information means that thousands of individuals residing in the GTA have compromised personal details as of now.
Other Finds
$39,000 in cash was also found along with $310,000 worth of watches. Aside from these, $390,000 worth of accessories, liquor, jewelry, and clothing were also found. The police believe that these items were obtained through identity theft and that the total losses are at around $10 million.
Admission of Guilt?
On April 27, Omitiran turned himself to the police and was promptly charged with two counts of identity theft, possession of credit cards obtained by crime, four counts of fraud under $5,000, fraud over $5,000, trafficking identity information, failure to comply with probation, and two counts of possession of proceeds of crime. He was scheduled to appear in court as well.
Investigators of the case believe that Omitiran have connections to individuals who have access to sensitive information and that he bought those information from the said individuals. Police are currently asking the public to help out in identifying the fraudster?s cohorts if they have some information.
A Long Time Coming
Adedayo Ogundana of Toronto (also goes by the name Oladipupo Ogund), 45, was arrested in connection to this case 6 months ago in December 13, 2016. He was charged with ten counts of fraud under $5,000, two counts of fraud over $5,000, possession of proceeds of crime, and possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000.
Duro Akintola, 44, also goes by Michie Noah of Toronto has been issued a warrant back in early March. Emmanuel Salako, 47, also goes by Gee Salaq is wanted in the US and was indicted by the United States Postal Inspection Service in Chicago Illinois under the identity George Salako.
Anyone with information about the men above or anything related to this case is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS (8477) or Financial Crimes at 416-808-7300.
Concerned that you or your business may have been a victim of information fraud? Let us help. Contact us promptly so our private investigation team can find out if this is the case as soon as possible.
