TD Bank loses Nigerian scam lawsuit
2007-08-24Â 14:00Â ET - Street Wire
by Mike Caswell
Everyone
has seen the e-mails. A con artist in Nigeria needs help moving
millions of dollars out of his country. The messages, usually in broken
English, spell out bizarre circumstances in which the sender has
happened upon a large sum of money. An oil company was "double
invoiced," a "bequest" was left in a will or a "hidden cache of gold"
turned up.
The scammer promises generous commissions, usually
in
the millions, to any sucker who replies. This is commonly known as a
Nigerian scam (although the messages often originate from countries
other than Nigeria).
Who answers these dubious e-mails? Todd
Merenick, a former salesman with Investors Group in Kelowna, responded
to one, and it ultimately cost his bank $82,000. (All figures are in
U.S. dollars.)
Mr. Merenick's misfortune was made public in a
B.C. Supreme Court decision released on Tuesday, Aug. 21. The
Toronto-Dominion Bank sued Mr. Merenick after he deposited a
counterfeit $82,000 cheque from a Nigerian e-mail scammer.
By the
time the bank realized the cheque was phony, Mr. Merenick had wired the
$82,000 to an account in Hong Kong. The bank sued on the grounds that
Mr. Merenick did not disclose his communications with Nigerian scammers.
As
soon as he learned what happened, Mr. Merenick resigned from Investors
Group, reported the situation to police and declared bankruptcy. He
acknowledged that he owed the bank the full amount of the cheque.
At
trial, the bank had to show that Mr. Merenick made false statements
concerning the cheque or that his failure to alert the bank to the
"suspicious circumstances" surrounding it amounted to fraudulent
misrepresentation.
Comments (0)
CEN-TA Cross Border Services - Tax, Visas, Immigration
http://www.centa.com/article.php/UsCaWeekofMon20070820003522.html
|