Man charged with defrauding Nunavut organizations of nearly $3M
Arrest made in Edmonton; police warn of online scams
RCMP in Iqaluit have charged a 23-year-old male with defrauding the Qikiqtaaluk Business Development Corp. of over $2.9 million and the Nunavut Film Development Corp. of $26,000, as a result of a business e-mail compromise in the fall of 2024. (File photo)
A 23-year-old man is charged with defrauding the Qikiqtaaluk Business Development Corp. of more than $2.9 million and the Nunavut Film Development Corp. of $26,000.
Iqaluit RCMP arrested Kirk Nosagie Iyekekpolor on June 25 in Edmonton, assisted by Alberta RCMP, Sgt. George Henrie, spokesperson for Nunavut RCMP, said in an email on Wednesday.
Iyekekpolor is charged with two counts of fraud over $5,000. He appeared in court in Iqaluit on June 30 and was held in custody. His next court appearance is scheduled for July 22 in Iqaluit.
The charges relate to a business’s e-mail that was compromised last fall, Henrie said.
“[Business email compromise] is a type of cybercrime where attackers impersonate trusted individuals or organizations, often through email, to trick victims into performing actions like sending money, disclosing sensitive information or granting access to systems,” Henrie said.
“It’s a highly targeted and sophisticated scam that relies on social engineering rather than technical vulnerabilities like malware or phishing links.”
These types of scams are also known as phishing scams, Henrie said. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre defines a phishing scam as one that uses tactics to trick a person into giving up personal information or clicking on links.
That could involve email and website name spoofing, describing a message as being urgent, offers of refunds or money, seemingly harmless requests to click links, download attachments or fill out forms online and instructions to scan a QR code.
Is this 3 million dollar fraud in addition to the 2.2 million reported in May? Seems like different suspects and one was QIA and this is QC?
I know they mentioned some recovery but how do you essentially make 5 million dollars of fraud payments out of essentially the same organization (QIA owning 100% of QC).
I pity the day that Nunavut actually becomes a real focus of cyber attacks because its an all you can eat buffet clearly.
Isn’t this the second time?
Can I borrow til GST x 41,000
Damn
Why and how come these so called Inuit organizations keep being ripped of? Time to get rid of same QIA Board of directors and the same at all rich lnuk led organizations (NTI) including GN premier. Their favorite word is “Transparency”.
AT this point I see this as a good investment, better than most inuit org investments, this one might even get some money back you see where im going there!
Johnny dont open funny looking emails okay.
5mins later Johnny clicks on an email..
Johnny calls support and goes home cause he cant work computers broken.
Gn flies in people from Ottawa and replaces every GN computer in Nunavut problem solved Johnny.
Johnny gets a promotion for helping solve the problem, then moves down south for 2 years while his job is held for him.