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Real estate agents caught on hidden camera facilitating mortgage fraud for a fee
They are recorded on hidden camera offering to connect buyers with fabricated documents showing fake employment, salaries and tax filings, so buyers can obtain loans they would not otherwise qualify for.
It’s a lucrative business. Real estate agents say the teams charge one per cent of the mortgage amount for the fabricated mortgage application. This is in addition to other commissions that can be earned once the sale is finalized.
On the sale of a $637,673 home, the average sale price in Canada, a real estate agent would typically make $16,000 to $32,000 in commission, while the mortgage agent could earn upward of $2,550 in commission from a lender.
While some consumers actively seek out and participate in this fraud, Marketplace has learned that some real estate agents are also taking advantage of unwitting buyers. Newcomers are particularly at risk, as they may not fully understand the home-purchasing process. New Canadians are also less likely to immediately qualify for a mortgage at one of Canada’s big banks, as their employment and credit history in Canada is more likely to be limited.
Experts in law and financial crimes say what Marketplace has uncovered is illegal under the Real Business Brokers Act and the Mortgage Brokerages, Lenders and Administrators Act. Submitting a fraudulent mortgage application is also a violation of Canada’s Criminal Code.
This crime also has repercussions for Canadians as a whole, says Dan Eisner, CEO of True North Mortgage.
“As interest rates rise and house prices drop, these buyers are most likely to default on their payments and that can put further downward pressure on the housing market through panic sales,” he said.
True North Mortgage has detected and stopped multiple fraudulent applications submitted to the company, along with counterfeit tax and employment documentation such as T4s and letters of employment that reference fake company names and phone numbers, where a real person will pick up and a real website exists. Read the full story here.
How a wildlife photographer got this award-winning shot of a ‘gyrating’ ball of bees
(Karine Aigner/Wildlife Photographer of the Year)
This photo taken in Texas of a cactus bee ‘mating ball’ won Karine Aigner the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year award for 2022. In the photo, a group of eager males swarm around a very in-demand female. Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum in London, England. Read how Aigner got this winning shot.
In brief
The public inquiry examining the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act will hear today how the protesters who took over Ottawa streets last winter affected those who live and work in the capital. Ottawa-based lawyer Victoria De La Ronde and Zexi Li — an Ottawa resident who helped secure an injunction against Freedom Convoy protesters to silence their incessant honking — will testify when the Public Order Emergency Commission resumes for the day at the Library and Archives building in Ottawa. The inquiry is reviewing the circumstances that led up to the government’s decision on Feb. 14 to invoke the Emergencies Act for the first time in the act’s 34-year history. The legislation requires that a public inquiry be held after it is invoked. Two downtown Ottawa business associations will also have the chance to weigh in on the impacts of the protests. Read more here.
Indigenous organizations in Saskatchewan and British Columbia are expressing support for Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond in the wake of a CBC News investigation into her claims to Indigenous ancestry. But some Indigenous scholars are calling on the prominent academic and former judge — she is a professor at UBC and was on the bench in Saskatchewan — to answer the questions it raised. For decades, Turpel-Lafond has claimed to be a treaty Indian of Cree descent. However, when challenged, she has refused to provide evidence of her claims. On Wednesday evening, hours after CBC’s story was published, the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) said in a statement Turpel-Lafond “has been a fierce, ethical and groundbreaking advocate for Indigenous peoples for decades.” Her integrity “is beyond reproach,” the organization said. The UBCIC also said CBC has no business investigating Turpel-Lafond’s — or anyone else’s — claims to Indigenous identity. Read more on this story here.
A dispute between Canada and the United States that’s been quietly simmering for months boiled over on a public stage Thursday. It involves dysfunction in a Canada-U.S. program for pre-screened trusted travellers, who can cross the border more quickly with what’s known as a NEXUS card. The U.S. has shuttered offices in Canada that process applications for these cards while it presses for changes to the program. A Canadian official made clear her country’s displeasure in an unusually curt assessment before a high-level audience in Washington. “I’m going to be super undiplomatic and blunt here because I think this is important for friends sometimes,” said Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. “The [NEXUS] program is being held hostage.… It’s disappointing and it’s frustrating for us.” She aired those feelings in the presence of numerous government and industry officials, including the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, at a conference hosted at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. However, there are claims that Canada is dragging its feet on making the changes the Americans want. Read the full story here.
As Ukraine’s army slogs out victories against Russian forces in the south and eastern parts of the country, their efforts are being aided in a modest way by a contingent of Canadian soldiers several thousand kilometres away in southern England. There, about 200 Ukrainians have just completed the final part of an intensive five-week training course that’s been conducted under the auspices of the British Ministry of Defence. The goal is to eventually give up to 20,000 Ukrainian soldiers a NATO-quality immersion in the basics of military combat, tactics and battlefield casualty response. Canada is one of several Western partners taking part in the program, with approximately 160 military personnel stationed in England. “There’s definitely a sense of urgency and a sense of purpose to what we are doing,” said Maj. Mike Pal, who leads the Canadian training contingent in the U.K. but is based in Edmonton with Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. “We’re essentially taking Ukrainian civilians and turning them into soldiers.” Read more on this story here.
A barrel of the North American oil benchmark is changing hands for about $90 US a barrel right now, but the heavy crude that comes from Canada’s oilsands is fetching $30 less because of a perfect storm of imbalances between supply and demand. The oil blend known as West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was going for about $87 a barrel on Thursday. That’s down from recent highs, but still far more than the price offered for every barrel of crude oil from Canada’s oilsands, a thick, tarry and “sour” type of crude that goes by the name Western Canada Select (WCS). On Thursday, WCS was fetching a little over $53 US a barrel, the cheapest level it’s been since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It’s also the widest gap between the two blends since 2018. Drum-tight pipeline capacity is normally to blame any time the spread between the two oil blends is as wide as it is right now, but experts say that isn’t the case this time around. Instead, there are fewer buyers for WCS because multiple refineries that process it are offline at the moment. And there’s reduced demand for oil overall because of fears a recession is coming. Read more here.
Now for some good news to start your Friday: A little bit of Canadian music history that might have ended up in the trash has been preserved. Chad Silva, owner of Flashbacks Records in Hamilton, received a large donation of cassette tapes last year. Silva, 24, said most record shop owners wouldn’t have given the pile of homemade mixtapes and recordings a second glance. “I went through everything because I’m thorough,” he said. “Everything else was almost trash worthy.” That is, except for two unlabelled tapes containing notes in looping handwriting on the back of the set list for a lost Neil Young concert in 1973 at McMaster University. Silva said he has been in contact with Young’s management and is donating the tape to the artist’s archives. Read more here.
Opinion: Fight sports can teach football plenty about short, medium-term effects of head trauma
It’s encouraging to see football catch up to the fight game — if you can’t stand, or raise your arms, you shouldn’t compete. But it’s chilling to contemplate that until Tua Tagovailoa’s brain injury, the NFL trailed boxing and MMA. Read Morgan Campbell’s column here.
Nothing is Foreign: As Brazil votes for its next president, the Amazon is at stake
Brazil’s Amazon rainforest is in peril.
During incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro’s time in office, researchers say they’ve seen an increase in deforestation, land invasions and violence against Indigenous people in the area.
Ahead of the run-off vote in the country’s presidential election, we speak with an Indigenous leader who says his tribe’s very existence is at stake with this election.
Nothing is Foreign24:02As Brazil votes, the Amazon burns
Today in history: October 14
1926: Winnie-the-Pooh, a collection of children’s stories written by A.A. Milne and illustrated by E.H. Shepard, is first published.
1957: External Affairs Minister Lester B. Pearson becomes the first Canadian to win the Nobel Peace Prize. The award stemmed from his efforts during the 1956 Suez Crisis to create the United Nations Emergency Forces in Egypt as a means to halt the Israeli-British-French invasion.
1957: Queen Elizabeth opens Canada’s Parliament, the first time a reigning monarch had done so.
1992: The Toronto Blue Jays defeat the Oakland Athletics 9-2 to become the first Canadian baseball team to reach the World Series.
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