Snow removal contractor charged with fraud after failing to do work, police say

An Ottawa man faces three chargesafter he allegedly secured more than 10 snow removal contracts with people across the city and then failed to carry out the work.

Ottawa police say the owner of Boxer Snow Removal got the contracts for this winter primarily by advertising on Kijiji, using an alias, fake phone numbers and emailsthat expired.

The man has been charged with fraud under $5,000, as well as possessing and laundering the proceeds of crime.

The same man is currently facing similar charges for another company he operated in 2016 calledCapital City Lawn and Snow Removal, police said.

In that case, police said the man signed customers up forlawn maintenanceand snow removal contracts andfailed to fulfill his side of the agreement.

BBB had issued alert

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) had issued an alert about Boxer Snow Removal inDecember 2016,noting thatthe company did not have a snow plowing contractor's licence as is required by theCity of Ottawa.

In its alert, the BBB saidthe addresslisted for the company did not exist and that customers had complained that they prepaid for snow removal but never received the service.

The Ottawa Police Fraud Unit said peopleshould becautious when dealing with contractors soliciting work door-to-door and online.

They also advised residentsto ask for the person's drivers licence, demand references, and check with the BBBbefore paying any money.