A resident of the South Shore of Montreal is suspected by American justice of being at the head of a network of fraudsters who allegedly managed to pocket millions of dollars by making small transactions in the bank accounts of numerous companies across United States.
Farhan Khan, who lives in Brossard, would be the main leader of this scheme which he would exploit using the identity of Melinda Petit-Homme as a cover, according to American legal documents consulted by The newspaper. Her former classmate from Canada now lives in Margate, Florida.
Their network would be made up of three other accomplices, namely the Americans Jeremy Todd Briley, Christopher Foufas and Brandon Hahn. The group first managed to obtain the banking information of consumers and small businesses.
Then, he allegedly regularly made unauthorized transactions on the victims’ accounts, according to court documents from a Florida federal court. We are talking about amounts of around $99, a small sum taken repeatedly in order to go unnoticed for a long time before being noticed by the victims. The alleged crooks are said to have stolen millions of dollars.
Up to $1000 per week
To achieve his ends, Farhan Khan has used several fictitious companies since 2017, including Altitude Processing Inc, to cover his tracks, explains a press release from the United States Department of Justice.
The Quebecer aged in his thirties would have involved his friend Melinda Petit-Homme by using her name to operate the company Altitude Processing.
She allegedly provided him with her identity documents, including her driver’s license, green card and bills, it is alleged. In exchange, Khan paid her between $250 and $1,000 dollars per week.
In an email dating from September 2017, Petit-Homme allegedly wrote to Khan: “Everything I own is thanks to you,” we can read in court documents unsealed in mid-December.
Even customer service
The alleged fraudsters allegedly implemented a rather elaborate scheme to pass off their fake businesses as legitimate. In particular, they created fake websites and Christopher Foufas even allegedly managed a “customer service” call center to handle complaints and offer refunds.
“If anyone asks questions, Defendants typically respond falsely that the fees are for online marketing services,” court documents state.
In reality, the victims of this scheme never subscribed to or received any service.
When the defrauded people’s banks asked about the unauthorized charges, Khan allegedly lied about signing up for online services or authorizing Altitude Processing to make the payments. He allegedly went so far as to provide financial institutions with fabricated documents proving authorization.
The court entered an order, which prohibits the defendants from making unauthorized debits from the consumers’ bank accounts and to prevent them from disposing of the assets obtained through the fraud scheme.