Edmonton woman catches mom in company scam: police

Edmonton police are sharing the story of a daughter who caught her mother in an illegal scheme with the hope it will encourage others to be aware of potential fraud.

Police say Shannon Baxter was helping her mother, Heidi, with invoices and sales at the family business, Yellowhead Storage. She came across an invoice from a company she didn’t recognize which turned out to be a phishing scam, police say.

READ MORE: Which scams cost Edmonton victims the most money?

In 2014, Baxter found another invoice for the purchase of shipping containers. She tried to track down the company on the invoice but the phone was out of service.

Police say Baxter’s mother admitted to her husband that she took and sold the shipping containers.

“You always think of family as people you can trust. But people can change,” Baxter said. “One memory I have of my mother is at a grocery store. She found $20 on the ground and handed it to the cashier because it didn’t belong to her.”

READ MORE: Edmonton fraud victim describes evolving CRA, Bitcoin scam: ‘I became a crazy lady’ 

According to Edmonton police, Heidi had established a shell company called Yellowhead Transport and had been selling the containers for several months with the help of a company driver.

“She was taking the containers owned by Yellowhead Self Storage and she was selling them through her own company for a profit, and then she was moving that money into her own personal business account,” Det. Linda Herczeg said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "She was taking the containers owned by Yellowhead Self Storage and she was selling them through her own company for a profit, and then she was moving that money into her own personal business account," Det. Linda Herczeg said.

“Through the loss that the company experienced, she almost bankrupted the company.”

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Heidi was fired from the company, and, in January, she was convicted and sentenced to 15 months in jail after admitting to profiting about $153,000 from the fraud scheme, police say. The  company lost about $360,000 because of the scam, according to investigators.

This week marks the final week of Fraud Prevention Month.

If you’ve been the victim of fraud, call the Edmonton Police Service at 780-423-4567.

To report a fraud, contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre online or at 1-888-495-8501.