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I don’t feel bad. I’m not going to stop. And you will never, ever catch me, says CRA scammer

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VANCOUVER—The job is like being an executioner, says the voice on the other end of the phone. It’s just what he’s paid to do.

The man with a light English accent says he’s speaking from an India-based call centre where he and other scam artists work through the night, phoning Canadians and claiming to work for the Canada Revenue Agency. They tell people they owe tax money and will be arrested if they don’t pay. Some panicked victims send thousands of dollars.

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre reports that it has received about 74,000 complaints about fake CRA calls since 2014, with 4,000 victims reporting more than $15.2 million in losses to the scammers. We received a call, too, and we called back.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre reports that it has received about 74,000 complaints about fake CRA calls since 2014, with 4,000 victims reporting more than $15.2 million in losses to the scammers. We received a call, too, and we called back.  (Jesse Winter / StarMetro Vancouver photo illustration)

“It’s like somebody in Texas. He’s an executioner; he has to execute people, he has to kill people. It’s his job. That’s what he’s doing, isn’t it?” he said. “It’s like that. I’m just doing a job right now.”

On Oct. 29, following news of raids against call centres in India, StarMetro received a call to a newsroom phone from someone claiming to be from the CRA. They said we had to contact them immediately to remedy a tax issue.

We called back to see if anyone would share their story. They did.

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) reports that it has received about 74,000 complaints about the calls since 2014, with 4,000 victims reporting more than $15.2 million in losses to the scammers.

In late October, Canadian police announced that a joint effort with American and Indian police agencies had shut down three such call centres. Officers arrested several people and seized information related to about 600 Canadians who had fallen for the scam.

In the week following similar arrests in 2016, complaints to the CAFC about the scam dropped by 93 per cent — but they picked up again in the following months.

On Nov. 6, police told the Parliament Hill press gallery they will continue working to root out and shut down the call centres in India.

The man we spoke to gave a name and later provided a photo of an Indian ID, but StarMetro has chosen not to publish the name because of remaining concerns about its veracity. The man would not prove the ID was in his possession.

A LinkedIn page says a man with that name is employed by a company called Sonark Outsourcing Solutions. The company’s Facebook page says it is located in Phoenix, Ariz., but the page is full of photos labelled as being taken in Ludhiana, Punjab, India. The city is in the country’s north, near its border with Pakistan.

StarMetro could not find a phone number for Sonark Outsourcing Solutions. An email address for Sonark found on an Indian company listing site also appears online as the email for a number of different companies. StarMetro sent a message to the email address but did not receive a response.

Employees of Sonark Outsourcing Solutions, based in Ludhiana, India, celebrate a birthday. A LinkedIn page under the name a CRA scammer provided to StarMetro lists the company as his place of employment.
Employees of Sonark Outsourcing Solutions, based in Ludhiana, India, celebrate a birthday. A LinkedIn page under the name a CRA scammer provided to StarMetro lists the company as his place of employment.  (Sonark Outsourcing Solutions/Facebook)

In the Facebook photos, employees are seen eating cake, living it up celebrating birthdays and holidays. Videos promote parties being thrown by the company.

However, our caller said he works until 4 a.m., 21 days per month, at a “sh-thole of a job.”

He insists there’s no other option for him. The scam earns him $400 a month — $300 more than he’d make at a legitimate call centre, he said.

There’s inadequate medical coverage in India and life costs money, he said, arguing he must provide for his family. Those who fall for the scam and lose their savings are of no concern to him.

“Right now, they’re in a better situation than I am. They’re in a better country than I am,” he said. “Their government is not going to see them in the street, but my government will see me in the street.”

The man speaks with an English accent and said he was educated in the United Kingdom, though he never went to university there. Despite his background, he said, finding a job that pays enough to support his family hasn’t been easy.

After overstaying his visa, he said going back to the U.K. isn’t an option and that he’s tried many times to get a good job without success. Initially, he worked in legitimate call centres but he said they did not provide enough to live on.

“If I had a genuine job in a genuine call centre, I’d only get paid $100 a month,” he suggested. “I’d have to survive on $100 a month; could you do that?”

Later in the call he says he’d make $150 a month at such a call centre.

It’s the big money that keeps such scammers in operation, said Ryan Duquette, the founder of Hexigent, a cybersecurity firm based in the Greater Toronto Area.

The phone scams are not new, but callers are changing their tactics, Duquette said. In past years, the scams usually relied on greed and promised people fortunes for completing a task, like the now-infamous “Nigerian prince” scam. But scammers are finding that fear is a better motivator, he said, especially for those new to Canada.

“Here in Canada at least, the victims that I’ve seen, a lot of them are immigrants to the country who don’t know how our policing system works,” Duquette said. “They may come from countries where the police will come to your house over an unpaid debt and drag you out.”

Such scams have been running in one way or another for decades, he said. Because they make money and are inexpensive to carry out, they aren’t likely to end any time soon.

Facebook photos from Sonark Outsourcing Solutions show employees having parties, playing foosball and eating cake. A LinkedIn page under the name a CRA scammer provided to StarMetro lists the company as his place of employment.
Facebook photos from Sonark Outsourcing Solutions show employees having parties, playing foosball and eating cake. A LinkedIn page under the name a CRA scammer provided to StarMetro lists the company as his place of employment.  (Sonark Outsourcing Solutions/Facebook)

Duquette said scammers have existed “as long as people” but became more frequent as the internet became more popular.

The caller reached by StarMetro said the CRA scam is not his first breadwinner. He was doing the “Windows scam” more than five years ago, telling Canadians there was a problem with their computer and asking them to send money to fix it.

Though the elderly and immigrants tend to be the most common targets, according to Duquette, the scammer reached by StarMetro insisted he’s mainly taking money from Canadians in their 30s and 40s.

Older people watch television and see news reports, so they know not to fall for the scam, he said.

Despite the arrests made by Indian authorities earlier this month, the con artist says he isn’t concerned about police raiding the office where he works and throwing him in jail. The police only bust up operations in big cities, he said, so there’s nothing for him to worry about.

“Most call centres that get raided are like in Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad,” he said. “Places like that, you know? Proper call-centre locations.”

Back in Ottawa, authorities acknowledged the difficulties with rooting out centres as their operations change. Supt. Peter Payne, director of financial crime with the RCMP, said such call centres have been getting smaller, spread across more locations.

“There’s probably more call centres in place. All I can tell you right now is that we have a good collaboration with Indian authorities,” Payne said during the Nov. 6 press conference. “We’re not stopping at this point. We will do what we can to dismantle and disrupt this process to protect Canadians, and the government is serious about this.”

But the resolve of Canadian authorities doesn’t trouble the man on the other side of the world.

“Where we’re based, no one is ever going to guess that there is a call centre here,” he said.

Jeremy Nuttall is the lead investigative reporter for StarMetro Vancouver. Follow him on Twitter: @Nuttallreports


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Anglais

Nostalgia and much more with Starburst XXXtreme

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Get a taste of adventure with Starburst XXXtreme based on the legendary NetEnt Game. The nostalgic themes are sure to capture fans of the classic version as they get treated to higher intensity, better visuals, and features. The most significant element of the game is its volatility. Patience will not be an essential virtue considering the insane gameplay, and there is a lot of win potential involved. It retains the original makeup of the previous game while adding a healthy dose of adrenaline. 

Starburst Visuals and Symbols

The game is definitely more conspicuous than before. The setting happens over a 5-reel, 3-row game grid with nine fixed win lines, which function if a succession from the left to the right reel is present. Only those players that that attain the highest win per bet line are paid. From a visual standpoint, the Starburst XXXtreme slots illustrates lightning effects behind the reels, which is not surprising as it is inherited from the original version. Available themes include Classic, Jewels, and Space. The game is also available in both desktop and mobile versions, which is advantageous for players considering the global pandemic. According to Techguide, American gamers are increasingly having more engaging gaming experiences to socialize to fill the gap of in-person interaction. Starburst XXXtreme allows them to fill the social void at a time when there is so much time to be had indoors. 

Starburst XXXTreme Features

Players get to alternate on three features which are Starburst Wilds, XXXtreme Spins, and Random Wilds. The first appears on reels 2,3, or 4. When these land, they expand to cover all positions while also calculating the wins. They are also locked for a respin. If a new one hits, it also becomes locked while awarding another respin. Starburst XXXtreme offers a choice between two scenarios for a higher stake. In one scenario with a ten times stake, the Starburst Wild is set on random on reels 2,3, or 4, and a multiplier starts the respin. The second scenario, which has a 95 times stake, starts with two guaranteed starburst wilds on reels 2,3, or 4. it also plays out using respin game sequence and features. The game also increases the potential with the Random Wilds feature to add Starburst Wilds to a vacant reel at the end of a spin. Every Starburst Wild gives a random multiplier with potential wins of x2, x3, x5, x10, x25, x50, x100, or even x150.

The new feature is sure to be a big hit with the gaming market as online gambling has shown significant growth during the lockdown. AdAge indicates the current casino customer base is an estimated one in five Americans, so Starburst XXXtreme’s additional features will achieve considerable popularity. 

What We Think About The Game

The gambling market has continued to diversify post-pandemic, so it is one of the most opportune times to release an online casino-based game. Thankfully Starburst XXXtreme features eye-catching visuals, including the jewels and space themes. These attract audience participation and make the gameplay inviting. The game also has a nostalgic edge. The previous NetEnt iteration featured similar visuals and gameplay, so the audience has some familiarity with it. The producers have revamped this version by tweaking the features to improve the volatility and engagement. 

That is characterized by the potential win cap of 200,000 times the bet. Starburst XXXtreme does not just give betting alternatives for players that want to go big. The increase of multipliers also provides a great experience. If the respins in the previous version were great, knowing that multipliers can go hundreds of times overtakes the game to a new level. 

Players should get excited about this offering. All of the features can be triggered within a single spin. Whether one plays the standard game or takes the XXXtreme spin route, it is possible to activate all of the features. Of course, the potential 200,000 times potential is a huge carrot. However, the bet size is probably going to be restricted and vary depending on the casino. It is also worth pointing out that a malfunction during the gameplay will void all of the payouts and progress. Overall, the game itself has been designed to provide a capped win of 200,000 times the original bet. 

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Anglais

‘We’re back’: Montreal festival promoters happy to return but looking to next year

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In downtown Montreal, it’s festival season.

In the city’s entertainment district, a musical act was conducting a sound check on stage Friday evening — the second day of the French-language version of the renowned Just For Laughs comedy festival. Tickets for many of the festival’s free outdoor shows — limited by COVID-19 regulations — were sold out.

Two blocks away, more than 100 people were watching an acoustic performance by the Isaac Neto Trio — part of the last weekend of the Festival International Nuits d’Afrique, a celebration of music from the African continent and the African diaspora.

With COVID-19 restrictions continuing to limit capacity, festival organizers say they’re glad to be back but looking forward to next year when they hope border restrictions and capacity limits won’t affect their plans.

Charles Décarie, Just For Laughs’ CEO and president, said this is a “transition year.”

“Even though we have major constraints from the public health group in Montreal, we’ve managed to design a festival that can navigate through those constraints,” Décarie said.

The French-language Juste pour rire festival began on July 15 and is followed by the English-language festival until July 31.

When planning began in February and March, Décarie said, organizers came up with a variety of scenarios for different crowd sizes, ranging from no spectators to 50 per cent of usual capacity.

“You’ve got to build scenarios,” he said. “You do have to plan a little bit more than usual because you have to have alternatives.”

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Anglais

MELS new major movie studio to be built in Montreal

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MONTREAL — MELS Studios will build a new film studio in Montreal, filling some of the gap in supply to meet the demand of Hollywood productions.

MELS president Martin Carrier said on Friday that MELS 4 studio construction will begin « as soon as possible », either in the fall or winter of next year. The studio could host productions as early as spring 2023.

The total investment for the project is $76 million, with the Quebec government contributing a $25 million loan. The project will create 110 jobs, according to the company.

The TVA Group subsidiary’s project will enable it to stand out « even more » internationally, according to Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau. In the past, MELS Studios has hosted several major productions, including chapters of the X-Men franchise. The next Transformers movie is shooting this summer in Montreal.

Péladeau insisted that local cultural productions would also benefit from the new facility, adding that the studio ensures foreign revenues and to showcase talent and maintain an industry of Quebec producers.

STUDIO SHORTAGE

The film industry is cramped in Montreal.

According to a report published last May by the Bureau du cinéma et de la télévision du Québec (BCTQ), there is a shortage of nearly 400,000 square feet of studio space.

With the addition of MELS 4, which will be 160,000 square feet, the company is filling part of the gap.

Carrier admitted that he has had to turn down contracts because of the lack of space, representing missed opportunities of « tens of millions of dollars, not only for MELS, but also for the Quebec economy. »

« Montreal’s expertise is in high demand, » said Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, who was present at the announcement.

She said she received great testimonials from « Netflix, Disney, HBO and company » during an economic mission to Los Angeles in 2019.

« What stands out is that they love Montreal because of its expertise, knowledge and beauty. We need more space, like MELS 4, » she said.

There is still not enough capacity in Quebec, acknowledged Minister of Finance, the Economy and Innovation Eric Girard.

« It is certain that the government is concerned about fairness and balance, so if other requests come in, we will study them with the same seriousness as we have studied this one, » he said.

Grandé Studios is the second-largest player in the industry. Last May, the company said it had expansion plans that should begin in 2022. Investissement Québec and Bell are minority shareholders in the company.

For its part, MELS will have 400,000 square feet of production space once MELS 4 is completed. The company employs 450 people in Quebec and offers a range of services including studio and equipment rentals, image and sound postproduction, visual effects and a virtual production platform.

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