Alleged fraudsters using fake names set up multiple bank accounts around Halifax and Dartmouth

When a man tried to access a bank account with fake ID in Halifax last fall, the manager of the TD on Joseph Howe Drive called police about a fraud in progress.

It was around 4 p.m. on Oct. 3, 2023.

“The suspect stated that he wanted to change the address for his TD account,” Det.-Const. Christian Pluto said in an application for a search warrant in the case.

“The suspect provided a fraudulent Government of Canada permanent residence card with his photo, but in the name of Carl Lacelle.”

The teller “felt that the permanent residence card was suspicious and of low quality.”

UPS Store

He asked the questionable customer if he knew that the Portland Street address that he’d said was his home was really a UPS Store in Dartmouth.

“The suspect maintained that he lived there, and he wanted to change the address on his bank account,” Pluto said.

The “suspect account had been created” at the Eisner Boulevard TD in Dartmouth on Sept. 29, 2023, said the detective.

The teller “felt that his story did not make any sense,” so he flagged down a manager, who spoke with the customer and took the permanent residence card he was using as ID.

Suspect ‘delayed’

The teller “delayed the suspect” while his manager called police.

The teller “was aware of a TD Bank fraud warning on Sept. 29, 2023. The fraud warning came from TD bank managers,” said the detective.

Halifax Regional Police Const. Liam Campbell showed up to arrest the alleged fraudster, whose real name is Ibnijah Carey.

“Const. Campbell seized the accused’s cell phone, bank cards, fraudulent permanent residence card and multiple business cards of personal banking representatives in the Halifax Regional Municipality,” Pluto said, noting the latter came from BMO, Scotiabank and TD bank tellers.

Carey had two TD debit cards on him when Campbell arrested him. “One of the bank cards was registered to Carl Lacelle,” Pluto said. “The other card belonged to Ibnijah Carey.”

The TD account had been opened Sept. 29, 2023, “in the name of Carl Lacelle” using an address for Victoria Hall on Gottingen Street in Halifax.

‘No financial loss’

Carey was allegedly captured on surveillance video the next day depositing $50 into the Lacelle account at a Portland Street bank machine, then withdrawing $20.

“There was no other banking activity and there was no financial loss to TD Bank,” Pluto said.

He later learned that Carey had visited the Bank of Nova Scotia on Hollis Street in Halifax on the morning of the day he was arrested at the Joe Howe TD.

“The suspect produced a fraudulent identity permanent residence card in the fake name of Dustin Bedard,” said the detective.

“He also produced a fraudulent statement of earnings and deductions from the Department of National Defence, also with the name of Dustin Bedard,” Pluto said, noting the man opened a chequing account with a home address that was actually the location of the Portland Street UPS Store.

Claimed to work for military

He was out of the Hollis Street bank by 11: 10 a.m. But the same man visited the Bank of Nova Scotia on Spring Garden Road within half an hour, where he opened a chequing account in the fake name of Henry Michael.

“He claimed that he was working for the Canadian Armed Forces,” said the detective, noting the suspect was out of the bank just after noon.

By 12:30 p.m. the same man was at the Bank of Nova Scotia on Coburg Road, opening a chequing account in the fake name Robert Marion and using the Portland UPS Store location as his home address.

By 3 p.m., he’d also opened a chequing account at the Bank of Montreal on Mumford Road in Halifax.

“The suspect claimed that he worked for the Department of National Defence and received an annual $110,000 income,” Pluto said.

Warning issued 

The detective started contacting people named on the business cards of local bank representatives that had been seized from Carey.

He pored over documents about the frauds, including a Sept. 29, 2023 email exchange between two bank managers “warning local TD banks about two incidents of attempted identity fraud.”

Pluto tracked down a teller at the Main Street Scotiabank in Dartmouth who recognized a photo that accompanied the fraud warning, which had also been circulated by Scotiabank managers. But it wasn’t Carey.

The suspect had opened a chequing account in the name of Brendan Cavan, said the detective, noting he’d also used fake ID, a Koodo phone bill and the Portland Street UPS Store address.

Second arrest 

On Oct. 6, 2023, staff at the Bank of Nova Scotia on Ilsley Avenue in Dartmouth called police about another fraud in process.

A teller was delaying the suspect who had tried opening a bank account with a fake Quebec driver’s license and a fraudulent permanent residence card in the name of Harry Milad, the detective said in the information to obtain a warrant filed at Halifax provincial court.

Investigators arrested Abdelaziz Abdelmeguid, seizing his mobile phone, two fake pieces of identification and two bank business cards.

Pluto took all the business cards seized from the pair and started contacting bank employees around the city, learning that, in addition to the Joe Howe TD, Carey “had attended at least five other banks where he committed the same offence of identity fraud by opening bank accounts with fraudulent identity cards,” said the detective.

“I also determined that, in addition to (the Ilsley Avenue Scotiabank, Abdelmeguid) attended at least six other banks where he committed the same offence of identity fraud by opening bank accounts with fraudulent identity cards.”

Pluto tracked down the owners of a UPS Store on Portland Street in Dartmouth learning Carey had stopped in on Sept. 28, 2023, “and paid for a mailbox in the fake name of Carl Lacelle.”

He also figured out that Carey rented a Queen Street mailbox “in the fake name of Henry Michael” that same day on the opposite side of the harbour.

“Both the UPS Store owners confirmed that the suspect mailboxes received various letters,” Pluto said, noting he could seize that correspondence with a warrant.

‘Organized crime’

“I believe that Ibnijah Carey and Abdelaziz Abdelmeguid were part of a larger organized crime network in which Carey and Abdelmeguid received information and instructions on how to carry out the identity frauds,” said the detective who has investigated financial crimes for over seven years.

“There is a strong likelihood that the cellphones seized from the two accused parties will provide evidence in relation to the bank frauds.”

In several cases, Abdelmeguid allegedly tried to obtain credit cards and overdraft accounts in fake names. At least one was declined and another was approved, but intercepted before delivery.

The detective convinced a justice of the peace to grant a warrant to search the UPS Store mailboxes on both sides of the harbour for mail sent to 16 fake names involved in the in the bank scam. Pluto believed that mail might help bolster his case and provide evidence about other “identity frauds which have not yet been uncovered.”

Letters seized 

Police seized 20 letters from banks at the two UPS locations during their Nov. 8, 2023, searches.

Carey is facing 24 charges related to fraud and identity theft. The offence dates range from Sept. 29, 2023, to Oct. 3, 2023. He is scheduled to appear Tuesday in Halifax provincial court for election and plea.

Abdelmeguid is facing 34 charges related to fraud and identity theft. Those offence dates range from Sept. 29, 2023, to Oct. 6, 2023. He is slated to answer to those Feb. 29 in Dartmouth provincial court.