Edmonton police charge woman who allegedly deposited $1M in falsified paycheques

A 68-year-old woman who used to work for an Edmonton transport company has been charged in connection with a $1.4-million payroll fraud.

Edmonton police allege Maureen Burns falsified paycheques from ex-employees at the company she worked for between 2007 and 2014.

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She “allegedly created false payroll deposits for more than 500 employees who were no longer with the company, changed their banking information, and had the falsified paycheques deposited into one of five bank accounts registered in her name,” Edmonton police said in a Tuesday news release.

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They did not release the name of the company. EPS said Burns worked as a payroll administrator with the company from 2002 to 2014.

“Through these transactions, Burns fraudulently transferred $1,117,241 into her accounts, with an additional $322,332 paid to the Canadian government from the company in taxes and other payroll deductions as a result of the fraud,” EPS allege.

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The scheme was discovered in 2014 when reports showed a staff member that wasn’t employed by the company anymore had been paid.

Burns was arrested on Nov. 8 of this year and was charged with one count each of fraud over $5,000 and theft over $5,000.