Two Orangeville Drive Test employees helped bilk financial institutions of millions of dollars by issuing authentic licences with fake names, say police.
Four people have been charged in connection with the alleged scheme, including a local woman and three others from the Greater Toronto Area.
“We believe that ... fraudulently obtained driver’s licences were made from that (Orangeville) office,” says Det. Const. Kirby Reddin of the Toronto Police Service, which announced the charges Wednesday morning (Sept. 23). “Then those licences were used to obtain various forms of credit and then defraud banks, credit card agencies and the insurance bureaus.”
A three-month investigation — dubbed Project Mouse — uncovered 164 fictitious identities and 140 identities classified as suspicious, all from the Orangeville Drive Test office.
“These were all new G1 driver’s licences,” adds Det. Const. Michael Kelly, also of Toronto police, who notes the new licensees were all listed as living in Toronto. “That’s what made it suspicious.”
Police say each identity has a street value of about $5,000.
“The licences that we looked at have been over the last couple of years, but ... we think it goes back much more than that. I can’t say exactly, but I’m sure it goes back years before that,” says Reddin.
“These are extremely serious charges,” comments Paul Dalglish, managing director of Serco DES Inc., which is contracted by the provincial government to provide some licence services.
“Criminals are getting more sophisticated, and so we’re getting more sophisticated in how we catch them,” he adds. “A lot of the things that we’ve done over the last few years are what’s actually helped bring this to conclusion.”
Earlier this year, Serco implemented photo recognition technology, which scans through licences and flags people who potentially have more than one licence, among other initiatives Dalglish declined to discuss because of security concerns.
“We worked with the police from the very beginning of this investigation,” says Dalglish. “We’re glad it’s come to conclusion.”
The investigation is ongoing.
“Ensuring the integrity of Ontario’s driver licensing and vehicle registration system is a key priority for this ministry,” says Emna Dhahak, Ministry of Transportation (MTO) spokesperson. “The ministry works closely with Serco on reported incidences of fraud and, where warranted, engages local police services.
“MTO has an evolving and comprehensive compliance monitoring program to monitor the delivery of driver examination services,” she adds.
“We are looking at changes to improve our ability to detect fraud.”
The MTO can assess a “penalty” against Serco when there are “performance deficiencies,” Dhahak says in an email interview. It was unknown at press time if a penalty would be applied in this case.
“If someone’s got a fake driver’s licence and they get into an accident ... that person doesn’t exist, so there’s no liability on that person when the victim of an accident goes to sue them,” Reddin explains.
“There’s also some concern in regards to national security. ... To get a passport you only need a driver’s licence and another piece of (identification). “
Joanne McGlennon, 43, of Orangeville is charged with breaching the public trust, fraud over $5,000, forgery and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.
“I’m not at liberty to speak about anything at this time,” the Orangeville woman says.
Also charged is Toronto’s Mohammad Akmal, 31 and 45-year-old Deborah Chamberlain, as well as Malvinder Birdi, 45, of Brampton. The three collectively face nine charges.
Birdi runs a driving school known to operate in the Orangeville area.
“He was taking people to that MTO office to get fraudulent driver’s licences made,” Reddin says of Birdi, referring to the Orangeville Drive Test office.
Birdi couldn’t be reached for comment.
