A network of identity thieves struck a major blow a few years ago: getting their hands on the information of more than 60,000 Quebec teachers. One of the pirates, Frédéric Lapointe, was sentenced Tuesday to two years, less a day, in prison.
“He played an important role in the overall fraudulent system and was not a marginal actor with a limited role,” judge Suzanne Costom concluded Tuesday at the Montreal courthouse, rejecting the defense’s request for home confinement. . The Crown demanded four years in penitentiary.
Frédéric Lapointe, 44, was “clearly not the mastermind” of this affair and acted on the “instructions” of accomplices, Judge Costom held. However, the hacker repeatedly accessed information contained in the government database ICARE (Information on the recognized academic classification of teaching staff) in exchange for a few hundred dollars per month.
According to the evidence, Frédéric Lapointe connected several times, between October 2017 and April 2018, to the ICARE system website. He used an application to hide his IP address. This system contains all the information of all active and retired teachers in Quebec. A veritable gold mine for identity thieves.
Frédéric Lapointe held the identities of more than 62,000 teachers at home, including the profiles of 51,400 teachers (all men) with their social insurance number and date of birth. In Word files, he had 11,361 profiles/identities with a plethora of information: name, social security number, gender, date of birth and employer.
Frédéric Lapointe worked for 8 to 9 years as a driver for an escort agency in the 2010s, before returning to the aeronautics sector. He then had big financial problems. It was in this context that he met a person who offered to pay for him to keep the data at the heart of the case. He received $700 each month.
Also, Frédéric Lapointe received calls from unidentified people asking him to recover data on a SUB key or on the ICARE system. He was then given a password and instructions to navigate the system. He received $200 to $300 to carry out these requests.
Frédéric Lapointe also created false identity cards found at his home.
Note that the investigation was unable to demonstrate a link between the data found with the accused and a specific act of fraud.
Identity theft targeting teachers has had very concrete impacts. One teacher testified that he experienced “considerable” stress receiving calls from collection agencies and calls from his bank. He did not suffer any financial loss. Another teacher who had his identity stolen reports that his credit card was blocked while he was traveling in the United States. He testifies to having experienced “great worry”.
Let us point out that the evidence does not clearly establish a link between these two victims and the data found with the accused.
According to the pre-sentence report, Frédéric Lapointe presents a low risk of recidivism. He is portrayed as a now “hard-working, mature and responsible” man who has distanced himself from “bad influences”. However, he would benefit from further reflection, according to the report’s editor.
After his arrest in 2020, Frédéric Lapointe worked all over the world, carrying out contracts in the United States, Germany and France. Trained in aerospace structure assembly, he is currently working in an aeronautical company in Mirabel.
“We are satisfied with the decision rendered by the Court which emphasized the extent of identity theft in this case and especially the consequences suffered by the victims of identity theft,” reacted the prosecutor of the Crown Me Sarah-Audrey Daigneault, who teamed up with Me Geneviève Bélanger.
The accused was defended by Me Alexandre Paradis.
Another accused in this case, Montrealer Rath Pak, is expected to receive his sentence later this week.