Charles DeBono, a 63-year-old Barrie, Ontario man who defrauded hundreds of investors out of millions of dollars will have to pay back $26.9 million in restitution after he was handed a seven-year sentence today.

Approximately 515 people, mostly from Nigeria but also in Canada lost a combined $29 million, leading some to lose their life savings and retirement incomes between 2012 and 2017.

The Nigerian Victims
They did their due diligence and looked into the business opportunity before investing. They lived in Nigeria and found nothing — no red flags, no bad history, no indication of what actually lay ahead.

In the end, the Nigerian investors lost thousands of dollars in what they later learned was one of Ontario’s largest frauds.
An investor from Nigeria told the Canadian police how he lost US$80,000— money he had earned investing in the petroleum sector.

'For me, I didn’t expect this type of thing to happen in Canada. It’s a developed country,' “I checked everything. In fact, it took me one year before deciding,” he declared at the Barrie, Ontario courthouse. “I was asking people, checking.” Even the online reviews, he recalled, were very good.

Other colleagues in Nigeria had also invested. He said there were a lot of investors from Nigeria.

The Nigerian man believes that some of the early investors recovered their money in full — which would explain the positive online reviews that, at the time, encouraged others to throw their money DeBono’s way.

The Fraudster
DeBono sold fake investments in a point-of-sale terminal ownership program in what police said was nothing more than a Ponzi scheme.
When banks started shutting him down in 2017, he fled to the Dominican Republic with millions of dollars as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cars and other assets.

The Barrie man had no criminal record and held regular middle-class jobs, including in the local used car industry, before creating KIS Media Ventures in 2012, which served as an umbrella organization for illicit companies, including Debit Direct and Business Partners Ventures Inc.

Using fake brochures and elaborate sales messages, DeBono used sales agents and sold his scheme on websites and at trade and franchise shows across the country, according to an agreed-upon statement of facts filed with the court.

Those recruited to sell believed they were selling a legitimate business opportunity. The point-of-sale terminals were to be placed in high-volume businesses across Canada and the investors were to receive 15 cents per transaction in monthly payouts.

Once he secured clients who thought they were investing in the machines, he sent them monthly financial statements and even dividend cheques in the early days.

However, the returns on the terminals were actually being funded by new investor deposits.

Crown prosecutor Ted Ofiara earlier told the court there was no evidence that any machines were ever placed in businesses and likely the only scanning machines linked to DeBono were the ones he displayed to sell that became a Ponzi scheme.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/AfrotimesNewspaper/photos/a.119381757440035/133997795978431/
Afrotimes Newspaper

Case of bushmeat catching the hunter?

Lalasticlala, Mynd44, come and see something.

Those guys are smarter than Nigerians when it comes to scamming. Nigerians are just too loud

Nigerians never learn,Another ponzi scheme will still come and eat their money again

Ojoro cancel

VeryWickedMan:
Ojoro cancel

Daddyyin:
Those guys are smarter than Nigerians when it comes to scamming. Nigerians are just too loud

wrong

The hardship over there never reach choking level! Trust me a greater percentage of their population are legimately and productively engaged and thus contented with what they are earning.

But in naija 0.00001% of population are controlling 95% of nations wealth and even resources plus 50% unemployment rate.

What else do u expect.

Highlandgee:
Case of bushmeat catching the hunter?

Turns out Nigeria doesn't have monopoly of fraud afterall

But wait a minute the guy looks mixed...he might actually be one of us by ancestry

Unfortunate

Is he doing tit for tat?

Hope all types of fraud will end

He’s trying to let Nigerians know they’re still learning in that yahoo business

Normally Africans are too LOUD.
I have seen a Russian man that dress coperate and owns a company.
Everything about him is low key

But behind the scene he is a comfirm Hacker that does scams and yahoo.
BUT YOU WILL NEVER KNOW

Nigerian go pick $200
The whole street go know say boys don pick
loud music, foolish dressing, no investment
Just like Hushpuppi the most foolish scammer in history

So many dangerous yahoo boys are from Russia, Philippines,Vietnam
U fit see them outside wearing singlet and slippers
But their Bank account na Odogwu Cubana
Nigeria still dey learn work

The word Scam or fraud is not gotten from any African lingo...

This is not Canada being a developed country, it is because the white/Western invented fraud...but will always paints African as corrupt and unstable humans.

Don't believe the lies you hear BBC, CNN, Adjazeera, CCTV will present...

They will won't want to tarnish their images

If you are a journalist... Protect the African image

lol doz white scammers dem no dey tak dere own scam for small level na high level dem dey run dere own....

And you will neva see dem doing show off...

To them, the news of a Nigerian being scammed by just anyone from their end is the same as the news of a solo terrorist having premature detonation or an AL Qeeda soldier having his testiscles severed, boil, fried and fed back to him by a 12 yr old kid...

It is received with so much joy.

Genius!

Who told you that all yahoo were Nigerians?

Payback to all the nigerian scammers

tit for tat
When those bastards,yahoo boys dey defraud the white nkoh,. Kind of pay back

Okay ooh

A clear case of the hunted becoming the Hunter.







Kindly check my signature for your Academic research service assistance.

What goes around, comes around

Life sometimes is like a boomerang

Lmao, the hunter is being hunted.



Season 1, episode 1..

Yahoo Boys in Nigeria will now see another " so called Legitimate reason" to scam foreigners.

As if the money collected by this fellow is from their father's account.

Say No to Scam .... Say No to Ponzi schemes

this one na old timer

Nice one.

First Half
Canada 515 Nigeria 24