100 lost $5 million in Toronto real estate scam
TORONTO – 100 people who could least afford to lose money can kiss their cash goodbye.
Police said they have reported being ripped off in a $5 million scam – and it is likely the 100 unfortunate people who bought into a real estate scheme will not ever see any of their money.
Toronto Police fraud squad on Thursday charged four people in connection with a scheme that would allegedly allow them to acquire real-estate by pooling their resources.
“It is alleged that the accused, Mohammed Saheed, purported to be a real estate specialist,” police said. “He targeted a specific demographic of victims, most of whom had limited financial resources – he convinced them that, by pooling their money, they could acquire real estate that would be managed and developed by the accused.”
“He employed three other people who gained financially from his fraudulent investment schemes,” police alleged. “The fraud took place between February 2005 and the present day.”
“There are 100 victims known to date, reporting a loss of approximately $5 million,” said Toronto Police. Police said it is likely there are more victims.
Saheed, a resident of Ajax, had seven corporations registered in Ontario: Reica Inc., Real Equity Builder Network Inc., Cash & Cash Inc., Dev Media & Adv. Corp., International Strategic Land Acquisition Development Inc., Canada Top Land Inc., and Provestor Inc.
Saheed, 42, Winston McDowell, 67, of Markham, Hollis Straker, 62, also of Markahm and Devika Dhanaswar, a 48-year-old woman from Ajax were all charged with fraud over $5,000.
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This is one of the reasons why we should first investigate before giving or trusting some fraud real estate sellers. There are ways on how we could prevent this and all of us should stop this kind of scam.
How is it fraud when a lot of you already received payment and are you people sure it was $5 million dollars? It seems to me that some one needs to take a course in maths. If the market did not go down the drain the way it did and he would have continued to make a profit for you guys do you think we would have been hearing all these crap from you that this guy cheated you out of your money? I don’t think so. I can’t wait for the truth to come out because a lot of you will look real stupid especially the ones that already received payment. Do you people think he is that stupid not to have kept records for himself?