ServiceOntario employees helping Auto Theft Ring
07-28-2022, 02:58 PM
#1
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ServiceOntario employees helping Auto Theft Ring
07-28-2022, 06:46 PM
#2
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Join Date: Sep 2004
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I had to cancel his HRE Wheel order - he just emailed me back saying its a Write Off now...
08-04-2022, 02:00 PM
#4
Drifting
The problem began years ago when the Gov't did a part privatization and allowed 'franchises'. The biggest issue has been fraud in these operations. You'll find that 100% of the issues come from the private operators and not the former Land Registry operations which integrated the Service Ontario operations around 15 years ago. There have been numerous frauds hidden from the public in the Service Ontario operation from: A bike gang that got one of their member's girlfriend whom worked at a GTA private SO outlet to search license plate numbers for them so they could spot unmarked police cars parked down the street from their homes or club houses. She got caught accidentally in a normal audit that highlighted her huge number of plate look up's unrelated to her work flow. I don't believe she got any jail time and was quietly fired. The normal procedure is they are walked into court to cop a plea at very early hour before normal public hours to appear before the judge.
That's happened may times in the past including Service Ontario office managers nailed for financial fraud. It got so bad with the license plate look up situation that Metro and Peel were renting cars for stake outs after they got a tip that the bikers were able to spot them when they parked. Then there was the great Service Ontario license sticker and change of info machine scam of a few years back. Ever wonder where those machine went that you saw in malls and stores? It led to the CEO at the time being fired. The machines were to enable the public to slip a credit card in and get a plate sticker or change of address and new ownership printed out. While not privy to *how* it was done - a group of criminals were able to command the machines to print out fake car ownership's or give out plate stickers. When the s**t hit the fan it was found that the security on these machines was ludicrously amateurish. It was all found out when a cleaner in a mall in Mississauga noticed the same guys wearing hats pulled down to cover their faces (units had cameras) always at the machines. He mentioned it to his manager and the mall security watched the machines for a while and confirmed what he saw and then called Service Ontario. They shut down the whole operation right away and within months the machines were removed. None of this aroused the interest of the Ontario Auditor General of course, (wink-wink)
The most famous Service Ontario failure - little known - was when they used to offer same day birth certificates out of selected offices across the Province. If it were not for a very observant OPP officer that did a traffic stop for speeding on the 401 there would have been hundreds (perhaps thousands) of BLANK Ontario birth certificates for sale by criminal groups. He spotted the bundles of sheets in the back seat in plain view. Staff at a certain location were questioned by police but no one was charged although the manager was fired. The person with the blank sheets was quietly run through the 7:30AM plea machine at the courthouse and out the door before anyone was the wiser. So now you know why all birth certificates take weeks and every one of them comes from the headquarters in Thunder Bay. Its just a few of the failures of this organization. You have low paid clerks in these private operations that have demonstrated over the years that either through criminal infiltration, personal intimidation or cash - they will cooperate with criminals.
The ability to change VIN's on existing vehicles should have been greyed out with only head office approval. It got so bad a few years ago that the plan to create a single License/Health/Hunting card was quashed by someone high up that didn't trust the organization to be able to maintain security. The idea was that the card could be swiped by different user groups such as Police/ Health care workers etc and only the pertinent info to that usage would appear on the computer screen. Service Ontario simply wasn't trusted to get that right. That's why you have a separate photo drivers license and a separate photo health cards The main issue with Service Ontario is that its been held hostage to I can't remember how many managerial changes including Ministry structures that change with every change in government. Its pretty much the red headed stepchild of the Ontario government and I'll tell you this: Any MP that gets told they are in charge of whichever Ministry runs Service Ontario at that point knows they aren't rated very highly by the Premier - its reputation is THAT bad.
Another issue is that MTO lost all control over the security of the data and handed it over to Service Ontario's retail operations. There are too many Ministries involved all with specific and different requirements. Its a huge amount of public services all lumped into one group that at any given year are managed by another renamed Ministry and some rookie MP in charge whom know squat. The Ministers main goal is to get out when there is another cabinet shuffle to another portfolio before crap happens again that stunts their career.
The integration of Service Ontario with Service Canada was a big joke. Service Canada completely refused to integrate systems with them. The best that could happen was a few 'co located' operations in selected areas where both governments run their operations under the same roof - but the fed's wanted no part of data integration where SO staff could access federal data! The original plan as proposed by the Ont Gov't was one location managed by one manager and one group of staff operating both Provincial and Federal operations seamlessly. A big NO to that from the fed's. Can you picture fake drivers licenses and birth certificates created in order to get a fake Canadian passport? So this latest theft ring news is just Groundhog Day the movie in my view, The creation of Service Ontario was supposed to be this 'world class' organization that was mainly driven by the idea of being able to move employees off the Gov't's books to private enterprise. The trial period was creating franchises that were supposed to lead to total privatization such as what occurred with land registration and elevating devices/standards and drivers testing operations. But year in and year out the failures and the fraud kept happening at the private sections leading to the operation still having to maintain half the operations as wholly run government employee operations. They've had consultants after consultants tell them what they need to do but it doesn't seem to sink in.
That's happened may times in the past including Service Ontario office managers nailed for financial fraud. It got so bad with the license plate look up situation that Metro and Peel were renting cars for stake outs after they got a tip that the bikers were able to spot them when they parked. Then there was the great Service Ontario license sticker and change of info machine scam of a few years back. Ever wonder where those machine went that you saw in malls and stores? It led to the CEO at the time being fired. The machines were to enable the public to slip a credit card in and get a plate sticker or change of address and new ownership printed out. While not privy to *how* it was done - a group of criminals were able to command the machines to print out fake car ownership's or give out plate stickers. When the s**t hit the fan it was found that the security on these machines was ludicrously amateurish. It was all found out when a cleaner in a mall in Mississauga noticed the same guys wearing hats pulled down to cover their faces (units had cameras) always at the machines. He mentioned it to his manager and the mall security watched the machines for a while and confirmed what he saw and then called Service Ontario. They shut down the whole operation right away and within months the machines were removed. None of this aroused the interest of the Ontario Auditor General of course, (wink-wink)
The most famous Service Ontario failure - little known - was when they used to offer same day birth certificates out of selected offices across the Province. If it were not for a very observant OPP officer that did a traffic stop for speeding on the 401 there would have been hundreds (perhaps thousands) of BLANK Ontario birth certificates for sale by criminal groups. He spotted the bundles of sheets in the back seat in plain view. Staff at a certain location were questioned by police but no one was charged although the manager was fired. The person with the blank sheets was quietly run through the 7:30AM plea machine at the courthouse and out the door before anyone was the wiser. So now you know why all birth certificates take weeks and every one of them comes from the headquarters in Thunder Bay. Its just a few of the failures of this organization. You have low paid clerks in these private operations that have demonstrated over the years that either through criminal infiltration, personal intimidation or cash - they will cooperate with criminals.
The ability to change VIN's on existing vehicles should have been greyed out with only head office approval. It got so bad a few years ago that the plan to create a single License/Health/Hunting card was quashed by someone high up that didn't trust the organization to be able to maintain security. The idea was that the card could be swiped by different user groups such as Police/ Health care workers etc and only the pertinent info to that usage would appear on the computer screen. Service Ontario simply wasn't trusted to get that right. That's why you have a separate photo drivers license and a separate photo health cards The main issue with Service Ontario is that its been held hostage to I can't remember how many managerial changes including Ministry structures that change with every change in government. Its pretty much the red headed stepchild of the Ontario government and I'll tell you this: Any MP that gets told they are in charge of whichever Ministry runs Service Ontario at that point knows they aren't rated very highly by the Premier - its reputation is THAT bad.
Another issue is that MTO lost all control over the security of the data and handed it over to Service Ontario's retail operations. There are too many Ministries involved all with specific and different requirements. Its a huge amount of public services all lumped into one group that at any given year are managed by another renamed Ministry and some rookie MP in charge whom know squat. The Ministers main goal is to get out when there is another cabinet shuffle to another portfolio before crap happens again that stunts their career.
The integration of Service Ontario with Service Canada was a big joke. Service Canada completely refused to integrate systems with them. The best that could happen was a few 'co located' operations in selected areas where both governments run their operations under the same roof - but the fed's wanted no part of data integration where SO staff could access federal data! The original plan as proposed by the Ont Gov't was one location managed by one manager and one group of staff operating both Provincial and Federal operations seamlessly. A big NO to that from the fed's. Can you picture fake drivers licenses and birth certificates created in order to get a fake Canadian passport? So this latest theft ring news is just Groundhog Day the movie in my view, The creation of Service Ontario was supposed to be this 'world class' organization that was mainly driven by the idea of being able to move employees off the Gov't's books to private enterprise. The trial period was creating franchises that were supposed to lead to total privatization such as what occurred with land registration and elevating devices/standards and drivers testing operations. But year in and year out the failures and the fraud kept happening at the private sections leading to the operation still having to maintain half the operations as wholly run government employee operations. They've had consultants after consultants tell them what they need to do but it doesn't seem to sink in.
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08-04-2022, 06:57 PM
#5
Every office private or government-run has had its share of criminal issues. My family has owned a location for over 20 years. Anybody sitting behind one of these terminals can go rogue regardless of who owns it, so painting a broad stroke saying that the private offices are to blame is just not true.
08-05-2022, 10:20 AM
#6
Team Owner
Every office private or government-run has had its share of criminal issues. My family has owned a location for over 20 years. Anybody sitting behind one of these terminals can go rogue regardless of who owns it, so painting a broad stroke saying that the private offices are to blame is just not true.
i would be surprised if these systems do not have audit tracking .. i know police have such a thing on driver license lookups. You pull a file to review someone's driver license or record, there is an audit trail showing exactly who looked it up and when. You would imagine if one person went rogue a software algorithm would pick it up pretty quickly.
True story ... many years ago a friend of mine was dating a guy who had some nafarious connections and my friend was suspicious and told her GF. Her GF was a rookie cop at the time so decided to pull this guys license and record and check him out " for fun" . two day latter she gets dragged in front of her boss and read the riot act as someone with power had been alerted that a search had been done and it was tagged to her. Not sure she is even still a cop. But someone is ALWAYS watching.
08-12-2022, 01:45 AM
#7
Drifting
Trending Topics
08-12-2022, 09:58 AM
#8
agreed , anyone can be intimidated regardless of the employer.
i would be surprised if these systems do not have audit tracking .. i know police have such a thing on driver license lookups. You pull a file to review someone's driver license or record, there is an audit trail showing exactly who looked it up and when. You would imagine if one person went rogue a software algorithm would pick it up pretty quickly.
True story ... many years ago a friend of mine was dating a guy who had some nafarious connections and my friend was suspicious and told her GF. Her GF was a rookie cop at the time so decided to pull this guys license and record and check him out " for fun" . two day latter she gets dragged in front of her boss and read the riot act as someone with power had been alerted that a search had been done and it was tagged to her. Not sure she is even still a cop. But someone is ALWAYS watching.
i would be surprised if these systems do not have audit tracking .. i know police have such a thing on driver license lookups. You pull a file to review someone's driver license or record, there is an audit trail showing exactly who looked it up and when. You would imagine if one person went rogue a software algorithm would pick it up pretty quickly.
True story ... many years ago a friend of mine was dating a guy who had some nafarious connections and my friend was suspicious and told her GF. Her GF was a rookie cop at the time so decided to pull this guys license and record and check him out " for fun" . two day latter she gets dragged in front of her boss and read the riot act as someone with power had been alerted that a search had been done and it was tagged to her. Not sure she is even still a cop. But someone is ALWAYS watching.
We had one clerk providing fake ids to her class mates. She was caught by HO and we promptly fired her.
08-12-2022, 11:58 AM
#9
Drifting
Yep they audit everything from transactions to stock. The private offices are constantly under pressure for everything from customer complaints to missing stock. 3 pieces in one year and they are in big trouble.
We had one clerk providing fake ids to her class mates. She was caught by HO and we promptly fired her.
We had one clerk providing fake ids to her class mates. She was caught by HO and we promptly fired her.
The following users liked this post:
Zookie (08-12-2022)
08-12-2022, 07:13 PM
#10
Last edited by Adamant1971; 08-12-2022 at 07:14 PM.
08-15-2022, 03:38 PM
#11
Team Owner
08-16-2022, 10:36 AM
#12
Three Wheelin'
Scams at Service Ontario amongst other government agencies is nothing new ....The issue with them is most don't last and the electronic trail always leads to a handful of employees that get sought out.