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This is the third of a three-part W5 investigation into how a convicted con artist bilked dozens of people in a landlord scam, how digital loopholes that may make the scam easier to pull off, and how the justice system that may be letting fraudsters off the hook to the tune of of millions of dollars across the country when it comes to repaying their victims
Convicts, including fraudsters, are skipping out on their court-ordered payments to their victims to the tune of tens of millions of dollars across the country, according to figures obtained by W5.
Of about $255 million in restitution ordered across Canada in the last five years, only about $7 million has been confirmed to have been repaid, those figures show.
And that may be an underestimate as several provinces don’t keep track of how much money has been ordered or returned, and leave it up to the victims to go to court and try to force the criminals to pay up.
One of those victims, Lesh Sowunmi, told W5 he was out $750 after he paid a deposit to a person he thought was the landlord of an Ajax, Ont. home.
He found out he was one of several people trying to move into that home – and the real landlord had no idea. He realized he had been scammed, and scrambled to find a new home and posted warnings about what happened to others in the neighbourhood.
“I think I am getting scammed here. Like, this doesn’t feel right,” Sowunmi recalled.
Lesh Sowunmi told W5 he was out $750 after he paid a deposit to a person he thought was the landlord of an Ajax, Ont. home.
He was among several would-be tenants who had been duped by a convicted con artist, Colleen Hull, who court records say has faced more than 90 charges in what appears to be a multi-year crime spree.
Hull was convicted in Sowunmi’s case, along with about 20 others, and served about six months in pre-trial custody and a six-month conditional sentence.
She is out on probation, and in November, a W5 investigation connected her to a similar scam involving a short-term rental listing.
One thing the judge ordered for Sowunmi was restitution, meaning that Hull was supposed to pay back the money she took. Hull was given five years to pay. But more than a year after the conviction, Sowunmi says he’s yet to see the money.
“Not a dime,” he said in an interview.
W5 got copies of all of Hull’s restitution orders from several Ontario courts. Court staff said across several Ontario courts it adds up to almost $70,000, and that she’s not paid anything.
‘They’re big numbers’: ombudsperson
It’s not just Hull. W5 uncovered several examples of people who have been ordered to pay restitution, but haven’t so far. For example, Vancouver care aid Ana Chamdal was convicted of defrauding the elderly, and still owes about $63,000.
Edmonton-area convicted fraudster Marie Louise LaFramboise owes more than $1.2 million in restitution, but hasn’t paid, court staff said.
North of Toronto, convicted romance scammer Salim Damji has paid nothing yet of a $767,000 restitution order, court staff said.
And two Cape Breton firefighters who burned down buildings still owe almost $140,000, court staff in that province confirmed.
“They’re big numbers, and they certainly make a difference to survivors,” said Dr. Benjamin Roebuck, the federal ombudsperson for victims of crime in an interview.
His office has called out a patchwork system of collections that sometimes leave it up to the victim to go to civil court to collect.
“I think victims and survivors who aren’t being paid are asking why there isn’t a mechanism to follow up and why it’s not being enforced, and why it’s up to them to try and contact the person who harmed them,” Roebuck said.
W5 called all the provinces and territories to understand the national picture.
Only four provinces and one territory told us they fully track restitution payments: Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI, and the Yukon.
Four partially track orders and payments: Alberta, B.C., Ontario, and Newfoundland.
And two provinces and two territories said they didn’t track at all, or had no figures to provide: Manitoba, Quebec, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
Of the provinces that tracked the money, the proportion of orders that were paid were as high as 71 per cent in Saskatchewan, and as low as 8 per cent in Nova Scotia.
Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia confirmed they do have units who try to recover the money on victims’ behalf, their governments confirmed.
Of each province, the highest dollar value of restitution ordered came from Ontario’s court system, which wrote about $213 million in orders over the past five years.
The province couldn’t say how much has been repaid. Ontario is among the provinces that has no dedicated program to help victims to collect, though a spokesperson said restitution can be part of an offender’s sentence, which is monitored by a probation officer.
At an unrelated press conference, W5 asked Ontario’s solicitor general, Michael Kerzner, if he would consider using staff in his ministry to help victims of crime get the money they’re owed.
“We are doing everything we can to work with stakeholders and partners across the ministry and make sure we’re there to support victims of crime and survivors,” he responded – but then said he’d discuss the problem with his colleague, Ontario’s Attorney-General.
Lesh Sowunmi says he’s long since given up on getting the money.
“I will be surprised if I ever see it,” he said.
For tips on landlord scams, or any other story, please email Jon Woodward (jon.woodward@bellmedia.ca)
