The Toronto Police reported that 12 individuals are facing 102 charges related to an investigation into a large credit fraud scheme.

The charges were announced on Monday as police provided an update on Project Déjà Vu, which is an investigation into what investigators described as "synthetic identity fraud."

Officer David Coffey, from the Financial Crimes Unit, stated that synthetic identity fraud is a form of financial fraud where fictitious personal information is used to open accounts at financial institutions and other businesses.

The police announced that the investigation started in October 2022 after a financial institution contacted officers and discovered several fake accounts. Coffey mentioned that he believes most of these accounts were opened by someone who previously worked on behalf of the company.

Coffey said, "It is alleged that the perpetrators of this scheme, which started in 2016, created over 680 unique synthetic identities, many of which were used to apply for and open hundreds of bank accounts and credit accounts at various banks and financial institutions across Ontario."

He added, "Withdrawals were then made from the fraudulently obtained credit accounts through in-store or online purchases, cash withdrawals, or electronic money transfers."

He noted that in some cases, fraudulent amounts were deposited into accounts to allow the offenders to withdraw beyond their set limits.

Coffey explained that the police have so far confirmed losses of about four million dollars, adding that twenty search warrants have been executed as part of the investigation.

Coffey continued, "Through the search warrants, TPS also identified and seized dozens of synthetic identity documents and electronic templates for creating fake identities and forged documents."

He pointed out that hundreds of debit and credit cards were seized, along with approximately 300,000 dollars in Canadian and foreign currency.

Coffey told reporters, "It's not just about fraud, as it's known that accounts obtained using synthetic identities facilitate the commission of other serious crimes including laundering proceeds from human trafficking, drug trafficking, armed robbery, among other serious offenses."

He mentioned that while financial institutions have their own security measures to prevent fraud, they are sometimes not always effective.

He added, "All financial institutions have security standards in place to mitigate the harm done to them. Fraudsters are really clever. They are advancing with technology." He noted that identity verification is very convincing. "They are often caught at financial institutions, but not always caught.”

He believes there are more suspects and victims that the police have not yet identified and that the investigation is ongoing.

Coffey stated, "We assume there are more victims simply because of the number of identities," and "we encourage any of them to reach out to us."