Affinity Credit Union among Saskatoon financial institutions targeted by brokers in alleged mortgage scams
Two Saskatoon brokers are facing a total of nearly 20 charges after multiple financial institutions, including a credit union, were allegedly targeted by a mortgage fraud scheme.
Affinity Credit Union has confirmed it was one of the targets of the alleged scam, which police say is already two years old.
On March 1, 2021, the Saskatoon Police Department received a report of “falsified banking documents submitted along with several mortgage applications to a Saskatoon banking institution,” according to a Thursday press release, which did not identify that institution.
The documents were traced to mortgages filed by two Saskatoon realtors, police said.
According to the police, eight applications with false documents were found at one financial institution.
An investigation by the police’s economic crime division led to police executing multiple search warrants and seizing more fraudulent documents related to mortgage applications at several other financial institutions, none of which were named by police.
“It’s kind of a tangled web,” said Amie Bregenser, Affinity Credit Union’s financial crimes manager, who explained in broad terms how the alleged fraud worked.
“What we’re seeing is people come in with false letters of employment or the like to get credit with us or another financial institution, and then they can’t make the payments after the mortgage is approved,” she said in a statement. interview.
“There’s always a broker involved, or a broker or a lawyer, and they exchange money among themselves.”
Bregenser would not say how much money is involved in the alleged fraud, or how many fake applications have been submitted to Affinity, because the investigation is still ongoing.
Police say a 36-year-old man was arrested after turning himself in on January 9. He is charged with two counts of fraud in excess of $5,000.
A 42-year-old man was arrested on March 15 and charged with 17 counts of fraud in excess of $5,000.
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