The Council on Licensure, Enforcement and Regulation (CLEAR) listings of online license verification databases maintained by state agencies/provincial regulatory bodies provides links to sites where you can verify a professional license.
Archive for the 'Canada' Category
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is warning taxpayers to beware of a recent scam where some Canadians are receiving a letter fraudulently identified as coming from the CRA and asking for personal information. The letter is not from the CRA. A PDF version of the letter is available on the CRA Web site at www.cra.gc.ca/alert.
Beginning 1 January 2010, the new limit for claims has increased from $10,000 to $25,000. This makes it worth searching for Small Claims Court actions when doing due diligence research. However, the Small Claims Court is often in a building some distance from the Superior Court.
Ex-cop, wife accused of faking bank records
Police say duo reeled in clients by claiming ex-spouses, relatives stashed money offshore
Cullen Johnson was a top Toronto cop.
Elaine White was a dogged investigator at a downtown accounting firm.
Now the husband and wife team of private detectives are accused of forging and selling bank records that make clients believe an ex-spouse, friend or employee has millions of dollars stashed offshore…
This is a case where the victims should have known what was on offer was too good to be true.
Secret sources always introduce reliability problems into an investigation or research project.
For example, is the source lying; does the source even know what he’s talking about; is the information old; and is this a trick of some kind? Is the secret source doing something illegal to obtain the information? Is the data fabricated?
Open sources, on the other hand, can be fact-checked in real-time through multiple sources. Open sources can be properly identified and the collection method can be explained fully.
Twyman’s Law
Remember, Twyman’s Law states:
Any piece of data or evidence that looks interesting or unusual is probably wrong!
Bungled Canadian Criminal Background Check
The Courthouse News Service reports on a bungled background investigation:
CHICAGO (CN) - An investigation agency claims it was ruined by a firm that did a slipshod background check on “reality” TV star Ryan Jenkins, who allegedly murdered his wife, dismembered her body and then killed himself. Collective Intelligence says it was hired to screen contestants for the VH1 show “Megan Wants a Millionaire,” but could not check Jenkins’ background in Canada, so it hired defendant Straightline International to do it.
Collective says Straightline told it Jenkins had no criminal record, though in fact he had a conviction for domestic assault on a girlfriend, according to the complaint in Cook County Court.
In August, Jenkins killed his wife, model Jasmine Fiore, dismembered her body, then fled to Canada and killed himself in a hotel, according to the complaint.
VH1 canceled the show, as well as “I Love Money 3,” on which Jenkins also appeared, to distance itself from media scrutiny, the complaint states.Collective claims that Viacom, which owns VH1, CBS and MTV, ended its relationship with Collective over the mistake.
Collective says Straightline did not request a background check on Jenkins from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, as expected, but instead got its erroneous information from a court clerk in Alberta.
Collective claims Straightline will not answer or return phone calls and will not provide it with more information about the background check it did on Jenkins.
Collective claims it has more than 90 clients in the entertainment industry and now its reputation is tarnished. It says that Viacom, ABC and NBC have since rejected it as a screener for their shows.
Collective seeks damages for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, negligence, fraud, and tortious interference.
It is represented by Louis Chronowski with Seyfarth Shaw.
In the full copy of the Complaint you will notice a document (Exhibit E starting on page 22) from the John Howard Society dated 2000 titled Understanding Criminal Records. A link to this document appears on the web site of Straightline International to this day.
Canadian Criminal Background Checks
Background checks for criminal activity are often done for several reasons:
- Job Applications
- Security Clearance
- Emigration
For example, many truck companies complete checks to ensure their trucks will not be seized at the border because the driver has a criminal record. The Access to Information Act permits an individual to apply for a copy of his or her criminal record. This may be done in one of two ways.
The first is done by providing a certified copy of the person’s fingerprints. The report will show all the particulars, including the disposition and whether or not there was an acquittal or dismissal. If the offence was committed abroad, there will be no record. Also, if prints were taken at the time of the offence and not sent to Ottawa, there will be no record.
Conditional and Absolute Discharges
The CPIC system includes Conditional and Absolute Discharges prior to July 1992. However, after July 1992 time limits were placed on Conditional Discharges of 3 years and Absolute Discharges of 1 year. After these periods they are removed from the system.
Police Certificate
The second method of acquiring one’s criminal record is not as reliable. The applicant may request a copy of his record based upon a computer inquiry using his name and date of birth. Of course this may not disclose offences where the accused’s name is different from the one provided. The report will only include offences for the exact surname and the first four characters of the given name. This method is called a Police Certificate.
The Applicant must appear in person with two of the following forms of identification: passport, citizenship certificate, birth certificate, or driver’s licence. This is required under either the federal Privacy Act or the Access to Information Act or both.
If no record is found a certificate is issued. If a record is found for the applicant, or a very similar name or date of birth and name, fingerprints will be requested to determine if the applicant is the same person recorded in CPIC.
Liability
If you are an employer doing a criminal record check you must consider name of the organisation providing the Police Certificate. Is is just a letter from a screening company or is an official document from a police agency? If the certificate contains errors, then you are in a much better position if it is a police service that made the mistake. If it is a screening company, then you have to question whether they did the search at all or used something other than CPIC.
Court Case-management Systems
While the Criminal Code of Canada is federal legislation, the administration of the courts is a provincial responsibility. Consequently, each province maintains a case-management system. It appears from the complaint that Straightline only checked the Alberta case-management system. Of course this system is useful to the Investigator, but it is for case-management, not a source of criminal record information for the entire country. Also, such systems have schedules for the removal of records no longer deemed necessary for case-management purposes. Furthermore, the court clerk is not liable in any way should he or she fail to be diligent in conducting the search, even if you can identify the clerk when the error is discovered.
I guess I have too much time on my hands — look at what I found.
CASTING CALL – Real Working Security Guards
If this sounds like you, we want to hear from you. You could be the star of the first season of The Real Security Guards.
I guess it had to happen — I just hope the resulting show favorably illustrates the value of this industry and the challenges its people face.
The add provides Sandi Butler as the contact at Tricon Films & Television in Toronto with 416-341-9926 or email: realmallcops@triconfilms.com.
The first stage of any investigation is to determine the identity of the person you are investigating. Martin Collacott, a former Canadian diplomat and ambassador, recently pointed out, the existence of widespread fraud perpetuated against Canada’s immigration and refugee system makes it hard to know who you are dealing with if the person manages to get into Canada.
… Canadians should be aware, however, of the very high levels of misrepresentation, including identity fraud, that this and other Canadian visa offices have to contend with on a daily basis.
This problem is by no means confined to posts in Africa, nor is it a recent phenomenon. In the 1950s, for example, it was discovered that a large proportion of immigrants who had recently arrived from Hong Kong had done so fraudulently …
In 2002, the immigration office in Hong Kong reported that half of the 33,000 immigration cases awaiting processing involved misleading or fraudulent information.
In the case of applications from China, our largest source of immigration, access to information requests in recent years have revealed, for example, that 57 per cent of student visa applications from Fujian Province in China were submitted with fraudulent documents while a sampling of business immigration applications from that country found that only 35 per cent were bona fide.
In the case of our second largest source country, India, although the rejection rate for applications at our largest visa office, Delhi, is only 19 per cent, in Chandigarh in the Punjab, most had to be turned down — a large percentage because of the high incidence of fraudulent documents or other forms of misrepresentation …
At our office in Nairobi, which is the main overseas centre for the processing of applications by people from Somalia seeking settlement as refugees abroad, fraud, and particularly identity fraud, is a major problem …
The PC and mobile phone have become centrepieces of our business, but what do you do with them when you replace them? These two article outline what is happening in Canada to address this problem.
Canadian recycling options for your old cell phone and computer
No one truly knows how many old cell phones and computers are currently festering in Canadian homes across the country, but the options for recycling them are finally starting to increase.
The days of a desktop or laptop lasting over five years have pretty much come and gone. A cell phone will probably get two years at the most, but even that’s probably more an exception than the rule. So, naturally, a quicker turnaround in new product has dwindled the lifespan of older models, which means an alarming number could easily end up in landfills. Add up all the chemicals and contaminants inside, and you have a toxic mess.
Canada’s changing supply chain for recycled electronics
Electronics made from recycled materials are beginning to hit the market slowly but surely, and with that may come new supply chains that could change the way manufacturers design and make new products destined for consumers and businesses
The jury vetting scandal in Ontario illustrates what happens when an act (in this case the Juries Act) assumes that the bureaucracy will act properly and in good faith. Shannon Kari, the reporter, quoted me in the National Post this morning.
No move to set up outside review into secret juror checks
The Ontario government has agreed that the broad background checks, which led to notations on jury lists that included mental heath data and comments such as “dislikes police” went too far…
Richard McEachin, who runs a Toronto-based company that does data research for private clients, said he was not surprised Versadex was used. “The main CPIC criminal record database has a robust audit trail and procedures to prevent abuse,” he said…
He echoed the views of Mr. Stuart, that any criminal record searches should only be on behalf of the court sheriff.
“This would create a visible and dated audit trail,” Mr. McEachin said…
The recent controversy surrounding the improper investigation of potential jurors in Ontario has exposed some of the information the government has on Canadians and their contact with the police. One such database is known as Versadex.
National Post editorial board: Ontario stonewalls justice, one mistrial at a time
The Versadex database administered by the Canadian Police Information Centre contains information obtained by police on any call to a private address, even if that call did not lead to an arrest, and appears to contain other informal police annotations concerning individuals. Notes on mental health status are included.
The term Versadex, refers to a family of products from Ottawa-based Versaterm which produces public safety software. Versaterm produces Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) software with integrated E911 emergency response, (along with advanced mobile workstations in the patrol vehicles, this puts vital information at police officers’ fingertips) and the Police Records Management System (RMS) for gathering intelligence and disseminating information on involved individuals, businesses, vehicles and locations. The Records Management System (RMS) is the core of the Versadex software suite. When RMS is fully integrated with both PoliceCAD and the Mobile Workstation they ensure a seamless information flow.
A person falsely accused of a crime in Ontario does not have the right to censor the records lawfully held by the police and by extension, the records held by the courts according to the Ontario Court of Appeal.
This decision is important as it ensures, at least for the time being, that records held by the Ontario criminal courts are available when searching for background information. If this decision went the other way, then many would seek to interpret it as meaning that copies of the Information and related court documents would in some way be subject to censorship.
Walmart was permitted by the Colorado courts to subpoena Facebook, Myspace and Meetup.com for the profiles of several employees that were suing the retailer regarding work related injuries.
I wrote about a similar Canadian case that established that what you find in Google, other search engines, and unrelated Facebook pages may be used as the basis for a motion for the production of the subject’s entire Facebook page as happened in KOURTESIS V. JORIS (2007). Another Canadian case is Murphy v. Perger, [2007] O.J. No. 5511 (S.C.J.) (QL). These cases are becoming more common and of greater significance as social sites become a larger part of our lives.
Researching Canadian charities is a difficult and frustrating undertaking. Here is the short course in starting an investigation of a Canadian charity.
To determine if a charity is registered by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), go to the Charities Listings page. The most useful filing of a charity is the T3010 form. This is the annual information filing that must be completed each year.
I wish that a quick read of a charity’s financial statements or its T3010 annual return or a calculation of its disbursement quota would tell one about the real administration and fund-raising costs and the real effectiveness and importance of a charity’s work. Usually, some research is in order – read the charity’s annual report, review its website, review its T3010 and search on director, donor, and recipient names, it may be enlightening to see the relationships exposed by this type of search. Then, if you have any concerns, call the charity and see what they have to say.
The Globe and Mail each week provides a short profile of a major donor and the charity that received the donation as well as discusses the donor’s motivation in making the donation. This makes searching the charity name in the Globe and Mail worthwhile. Searching The Toronto Star is also a good idea as their reporter, Kevin Donovan, writes about the worst examples of misdeeds by charities in Canada.
Canada is part of Country Code 1 and participates in the North American Number Plan (NANP) with the USA and 17 Caribbean nations. The NANP structure consists of a single digit Country Code followed by a 10 digit number containing a 3 digit Number Plan Area (called an NPA or Area code), a 3 digit Central Office (CO) Code, and a 4 digit Line Number.
Canada has been adding area codes and Central Office codes. It is not unusual for me to come across an unfamiliar area code. To keep-up with these changes, I regularly download a CSV file (requires ZIP decompression utility) containing information for all NPAs in Canada.
If you don’t want to download the file you can go to the the CNA website (Canadian Number Administrator) to search out an area code or identify the carrier associated with a CO code which will identify those used by cell phones.