Toronto police are appealing to the public to help them find $1.9 million in distinctive gold bars they say were “fraudulently obtained.”
The bars were bought in Montreal sometime between Feb. 9 and Feb. 11…
A “fraudulently obtained” bank draft in the amount of $1,895,751 was used to purchase the bars, police said.
The purchase included 75 gold bars, weighing 10 ounces each, that were manufactured by the Perth Mint in Australia.
Investigators allege Senthuran Kanapathipillai, 32, of Toronto, had one of the gold bars and was charged with possession of property obtained by crime. Police say Thevarajah Thambipillai, 55, of Toronto, tried to sell one of the bars and was charged with possession of property obtained by crime…
The bars bear the symbol of the Perth Mint on one side and kangaroos imprinted on the back, police said.
The Canadian Bankers Association is offering a $50,000 reward for anyone who can provide information that leads to the recovery of the bars, and the arrest and conviction of anyone involved.
So, uh, which bank in Montreal is the pushover, eh?
“Investigators allege Senthuran Kanapathipillai, 32, of Toronto, had one of the gold bars and was charged with possession of property obtained by crime.”
Stupid criminal is stupid. Melt the gold to wipe out any distinctive features and then you can safely sell it by pieces.
Seems very similar to the pope’s pendant but much smaller. I’d check that out.
I was thinking the same thing, Angel. But it takes some effort to do that…I wonder if it can be done on a kitchen stove? Heh, imagine ending up with a gold-lined sauce pan. lol
#3 Olo,
Pure gold is very pliable and has a very low melting point. Thus making it easy to melt into a steel pan. Besides, all you need is to heat it until it becomes as soft as putty and start cutting it into chunks.
I don’t think there’s any jewelry store who wouldn’t want to buy untraceable gold chunks. They can mix it with tin or bronze to dilute it and sell more for a profit.
$50 thou reward to save their asses for almost $2 mil? Cheap bastards. The president of the bank probably made more than that for his birthday bonus.
As I was writing something else occurred to me:
75 bars weighing 10 oz each = 750 ounces
purchase price $1,895,751
$1,895,751 / 750 = $2500 per ounce.
Yet, as far as I know, the price of gold is only around $1400. Am I missing something? Making some silly arithmetic error or is it: “Lucy… joo got some splanin’ to do…”
Full credit to the thief for guts.
But he got greedy: 10oz bars are difficult to sell (in quantity). At over $10K each, you have to find people with cash – or be prepared to sell well under market value — in which case you may as well just deal with money launderers.
The money involved is just a tiny fraction of the amount banks got in the TARP scam.
So it’s just a different set of thieves getting free gold this time around, even though this bank didn’t get US money, they are of the same ilk. Nobody really feels sorry for bankers, do they?
Don’t they put serial numbers on the bars ?
#8 JimD,
It’s pointless, you only need blow torch and it’s gone.
Melting gold is like melting lead: all you need is a steel pot and a stove.
I’ve melted lead for sinkers, in high school I cast some silver stuff, and I melt solder regularly…some day I hope to be able to try melting bars of gold on a stove…just like some day I hope to use all the little squares they provide on a bank deposit slip where you write the amount. lol
Eideard : The news report doesn’t mention any bank from Montreal. It was bought in Montreal, but possibly not from a bank… just saying.
#5 – presumably the bank will be putting in an insurance claim.
The car that was stolen – why yes I had just finished fitting gold wheels worth another $50K to it before it was stolen…..
The price paid must be retail.
Since they were using the bank’s money they could afford a high price.
The term ‘“fraudulently obtained” bank draft’ doesn’t exactly explain much. In fact it’s rather cagey, about the it. Doesn’t say how it was accomplished. Or who might have been at fault, at the bank, for allowing this to happen. And not even if it was a bank draft obtained, in exchange for no real tender. Perhaps it’s a case of the customer not having the right pedigree to own that kind of bulk gold. Coins? Ok. Bars? Sorry Charley. You’re not Muammar Gaddafi. In fact something like $2 billion in “Canadia assests”, of Gaddaft’s, were just recently frozen. Whatever “frozen” is suppose to mean. Covering up the fact that he was able to have $2 billion in assets in Canada, all this time, unchecked. Maybe these “thieves” were his agents, trying to get around the asset freeze. Thus the couched term, “fraudulently obtained” bank draft.
Where’s this bank? I’ve got a check I want to cash.
The only bank in Canada that sells gold over the counter is Scotiabank.
FYI
just used google
Melting point of gold: 1947.9741 °F
top temp of an eye on a stove: 600F on the surface
hand held Butane torch top temp: 2500 °F and costs just $30
all you need is a bucket of sand, make an indent in the sand, then melt the gold with the torch and it will land on the sand, but can’t melt it
I did this one time to melt fishing weights into a shape that I had made in the sand.
So a guy “paid” $1.9M for $1.1M of gold. Sounds like the bank was trying to scam him.
Take the bars, melt them down with a little scrap gold and maybe a tad of scrap silver and the merest hint of lead, recast them then sell the stuff as scrap.
The distinctive appearance is gone and you can’t tell where the gold came from by checking for trace elements.
Did he have two forms of picture ID?
Lets get something straight..
$1,800,000
reward
$50,000?
2.7% reward??
AT LEAST make it $100,000 about 5.5%
oh gosh darn, eh?
Serves the bank right. Banks in Canada take fake money orders from people all the time when they get scammed for selling their car and then taking the fake draft from the thief. Then the bank turns around months later and tells the person it is fake and the bank wants the money back. Maybe now the banks will start to think about the way they deal with money orders/drafts.
Classic inside job. I’m sure the bank had somebody working with Senthuran Kanapathipillai.