Undocumented Senegalese man charged with $180K Quebec social assistance fraud
Omar Ndiaye, 45, allegedly filed 55 fake social assistance claims using fictitious identities, defrauding Quebec of over $180,000. He remains in custody until his October court date.
Senegalese migrant accused of filing 55 fraudulent welfare claims in Quebec
An undocumented man from Senegal has been charged with defrauding the Quebec government of more than $180,000 through a fake identity scheme targeting the provincial social assistance system, Toronto Sun Crime reports.
Omar Ndiaye, 45, was arrested last month and faces multiple charges including fraud, document forgery, and use of forged documents, covering an alleged period between March 2024 and August of this year.
Crown prosecutors allege Ndiaye submitted 55 fraudulent applications for financial assistance using fictitious names and impersonating different beneficiaries. Quebec's Ministry of Employment and Social Solidarity reportedly approved 37 of those applications.
Investigators say the scheme began to unravel when photos attached to several of Ndiaye's applications showed a "very strong resemblance" despite the varying aliases used across filings.
Surveillance footage allegedly captured him withdrawing funds from bank accounts linked to cards registered in the names of at least three other individuals. Police also observed him collecting mail from multiple post office boxes registered to addresses that were not his own.
A former landlord further discovered more than 140 letters from federal and provincial government offices, as well as bank correspondence, addressed to various other people at a property previously occupied by Ndiaye.
A fake passport from the Democratic Republic of Congo was also recovered. The document reportedly carried Ndiaye's photograph but bore an alias as the registered name.
At a bail hearing, Crown prosecutor Julien Beaulieu argued against releasing Ndiaye pending trial, citing the multiple identities as a significant concern.
"Mr. Ndiaye is using multiple different identities. He constitutes an imminent flight risk," Beaulieu told the court.
Ndiaye pushed back, telling the court he had no intention of fleeing. "Living in Canada is a dream," he said, arguing he did not pose a flight risk.
Judge Sonia Mastro Matteo sided with the prosecution. She ruled that Ndiaye's place of residence was difficult to establish and that a proposed $4,000 security deposit was insufficient to guarantee his appearance in court or compliance with bail conditions.
Ndiaye's defence suggested the possibility that someone else had been filing the fraudulent applications in his name.
He will remain in custody until his next court appearance in October. If convicted, he could face between three and five years in prison.
Ndiaye has no legal immigration status in Canada. He told the court he had been working illegally as a dishwasher in Montreal before his arrest.
Source: Toronto Sun Crime