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By rdnewsNOW staff/Pattison Media

Former CRA employee in Alberta charged for allegedly embezzling nearly $20,000 in emergency benefits scam

Aug 16, 2023 | 12:22 PM

RED DEER, AB – A former Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) employee allegedly embezzled nearly $20,000 in an emergency benefits scam while living in Alberta during the pandemic, according to the RCMP.

The RCMP’s Provincial Financial Crime Team has charged the now Yukon resident in relation to fraud, unauthorized access to a computer and accessing confidential information.

Between April 2020 and January 2021, police stated that the suspect is alleged to have fraudulently obtained nearly $20,000 from the Government of Canada by claiming the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB) while working as a full-time employee of the CRA in the Stony Plain area, west of Edmonton.

Police noted that following a comprehensive investigation, initiated after the file was referred to the RCMP by the CRA, a warrant was issued for the individual’s arrest in July 2023.

On August 10, the 39-year-old woman, now a resident of Dawson City in Yukon, was arrested.

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She is charged with:

• Fraud over $5,000 contrary to section 380(1)(a) of the Criminal Code
• Possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000 contrary to section 355(a) of the Criminal Code
• Mischief in relation to computer data contrary to section 430(5) of the Criminal Code
• Two counts of unauthorized use of computer to commit fraud contrary to section 342.1 of the Criminal Code
• Two counts of breach of trust by a public officer contrary to section 122 of the Criminal Code
• Offence with respect to confidential information contrary to section 239(2.2)(a) of the Income Tax Act

She is scheduled to appear in Stony Plain Provincial Court on September 20, 2023.

“The act of accessing and altering data on any internal database is an extreme abuse of one’s position. By manipulating these systems, the accused personally benefitted from fraudulent payments,” said Sgt. John Lamming of the Provincial Financial Crime Team, in a news release.

The Team is a specialized unit under the RCMP Federal Policing program that conducts investigations relating to multi-jurisdictional serious fraud, investment scams and local political corruption.

READ MORE: Lethbridge News Now.

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