Ken Wu was on his phone this past spring, scrolling through the popular Chinese social-media app RedNote, when a stranger messaged him with a proposition.
asserted
stranger → scroll → proposition
The stranger explained how Mr. Wu could make some easy money off a landmark class-action settlement.
uncertain
Wu → explain → settlement
Canada’s largest grocer, Loblaw Cos. Ltd. L-T, and its parent company had agreed to pay $500-million in compensation for their role in a high-profile scheme to fix bread prices.
asserted
grocer → agree → prices
The settlement was the first to come out of lawsuits that were launched after the companies reported an alleged industry-wide conspiracy to the Competition Bureau in 2015, in exchange for immunity from criminal prosecution.
asserted
companies → come → prosecution
(Other grocers have denied involvement.)
asserted
grocers → deny → involvement
The person reaching out to Mr. Wu was among millions of people who had registered on the official website, Canadianbreadsettlement.ca, to receive recompense.
asserted
who → reach → recompense
For most recipients, that added up to $49.11 sent in the form of an e-transfer via digital-payments giant Interac.
asserted
that → add → Interac
There was much more up for grabs than that paltry sum, the RedNote user explained to Mr. Wu.
asserted
user → be → Wu
The stranger had registered for multiple payments using different e-mail addresses, and had received not just one Interac link, but many.
asserted
stranger → register → link
The links could be forwarded, and anyone who clicked on them would be able to deposit the money.
uncertain
who → forward → money
But there was a snag: Claimants needed a Canadian bank account to accept the e-transfer, something the stranger didn’t have.
asserted
stranger → be → something
If Mr. Wu, a Vancouver resident, would agree to use his account to make the deposit, the user would ask for an upfront payment for the links, a price lower than the payout that would land in his account – effectively meaning they would split the proceeds.
asserted
they → agree → proceeds
As a newcomer to Canada who had not purchased bread at Loblaw-owned stores during the time covered by the lawsuit, Mr. Wu knew he wasn’t eligible for a payment.
asserted
he → purchase → payment
“I don’t have that right,” he said.
asserted
he → have → right
He refused the offer.
asserted
He → refuse → offer
But he wasn’t the only person being solicited.
asserted
he → solicit → ?
As soon as the bread settlement was distributed in May, a market for the e-transfer links emerged on RedNote – and not just in private messages.
uncertain
market → distribute → messages
When people began posting that they’d received bread payments, the comments on those posts were wall-to-wall with other people hawking links, some offering generous terms to anyone with a Canadian bank account willing to make, in some cases, hundreds of deposits.
asserted
some → begin → deposits
As with any questionable offers made in online forums, it’s impossible to say how many of those posts were selling working e-transfer links, versus looking for a mark who would hand over money and receive nothing.
asserted
who → make → nothing
But around the same time, warning signs began flaring inside Canadian banks.
asserted
signs → flare → banks
Three small institutions reported unusual account activity to the settlement administrator, Verita Global LLC, and its banking partner that helped make the payments, the Bank of Nova Scotia.
asserted
that → report → Scotia
Multiple deposits of the bread money were being funnelled into the same accounts.
asserted
deposits → funnel → accounts
In one case, a single bank customer deposited roughly 1,000 such e-transfers.
asserted
customer → deposit → transfers
Suddenly, one of the country’s biggest-ever class-action settlements had a big problem.
asserted
one → have → problem
THE PARTIES INVOLVED
Defendants
Plaintiffs
Neutral parties
JUDGES
Approved the settlement
Ontario
Edward M. Morgan
Quebec
Martin F. Sheehan
THE PAYERS
Agreed to pay a $500-million settlement
Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and George Weston Ltd.
PLAINTIFFS’ LAWYERS
Worked with settlement administrators to make the payments happen.
asserted
payments → involve → administrators
Ontario
Strosberg Wingfield
Sasso LLP and
Orr Taylor LLP
Quebec
LPC Avocats and
Renno Vathilakis
Avocats Inc.
SETTLEMENT ADMINISTRATORS
These administrators were listed in court documents last year.
asserted
administrators → list → documents
Hired by the lawyers, they are responsible for implementing
security procedures to prevent fraud
asserted
they → hire → fraud
Not disclosed
asserted
Not → disclose → ?
by e-transfer
Interac
RECEIVING BANKS
BANK CLIENTS
Canadian consumers who bought bread
between 2001 and 2021 and were
eligible for a settlement payment
MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL,
SOURCE: COURT DOCUMENTS
asserted
who → buy → payment
JUDGES
Approved the settlement
Ontario
Edward M. Morgan
Quebec
Martin F. Sheehan
THE PAYERS
Agreed to pay a $500-million settlement
Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and George Weston Ltd.
PLAINTIFFS’ LAWYERS
Worked with settlement administrators to make the payments happen.
asserted
payments → approve → administrators
These administrators were listed in court documents
last year.
asserted
administrators → list → documents
Hired by the lawyers, they are responsible
for implementing security procedures to prevent fraud
Ontario
asserted
they → hire → fraud
Canadian consumers who bought bread between 2001 and 2021 and were eligible for a settlement payment
asserted
who → buy → payment
MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE:
COURT DOCUMENTS
THE PARTIES INVOLVED
Defendants
Plaintiffs
Neutral parties
JUDGES
Approved the settlement
Ontario
Edward M. Morgan
Quebec
Martin F. Sheehan
THE PAYERS
Agreed to pay a $500-million settlement
Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and George Weston Ltd.
PLAINTIFFS’ LAWYERS
Worked with settlement administrators to make the payments happen
Ontario
Strosberg Wingfield
Sasso LLP and
Orr Taylor LLP
Quebec
LPC Avocats and
Renno Vathilakis
Avocats Inc.
SETTLEMENT ADMINISTRATORS
These administrators were listed in court documents last year.
asserted
administrators → approve → documents
Hired by the lawyers, they are responsible for implementing
security procedures to prevent fraud
Ontario
Verita Global LLC
Quebec
Concilia Services Inc.
and Richter LLC
BANKING PARTNERS
Chosen by the settlement administrators to make the settlement payments
Ontario
Bank of Nova Scotia
Quebec
Not disclosed
PAYMENT PARTNER
For settlement payments made by e-transfer
Interac
RECEIVING BANKS
BANK CLIENTS
Canadian consumers who bought bread between 2001 and 2021 and were eligible for a settlement payment
MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE:
asserted
who → hire → payment
Class actions are designed to deliver justice to people who have been wronged.
asserted
who → design → people
But when bad actors succeed at faking claims, legitimate claimants get a smaller slice of the pie.
uncertain
claimants → succeed → pie
The highly publicized bread settlement attracted a large number of applications for the funds, many of which were bogus.
asserted
many → publicize → which
Official estimates of suspicious deposits that flowed into Canadian banks have grown.
asserted
that → flow → banks
Court records from June show that, at the request of administrators, Interac provided an estimate that roughly $3.7-million in payments were suspicious, and possibly fraudulent.
uncertain
million → show → payments
…and 161 more, not listed.
The Aporia
