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Non-chapter Members: $75.00
1 CPE Credit

Join Detective Constable Victoria Bowes of the Halton Regional Police Service Fraud Unit for this case study of Project Luxe. The investigation began in the summer of 2023 and focused on an organized crime group responsible for carrying out sophisticated schemes that defrauded victims of more than CAD 4 million in luxury vehicles. Through a lengthy covert surveillance operation, investigators were able to identify and arrest group members along with a broader criminal network responsible for committing both domestic and international fraud.

This presentation will provide an overview of Project Luxe, including the ways in which fraudsters were able to perpetrate their crimes. Further, attendees will learn about the resources and methods that investigators used in order to successfully prevent further victimization, arrest those responsible and recover millions in fraudulently obtained property. Finally, attendees will be provided with tools and tips to identify fraud and counterfeit documents from a law enforcement professional trained in fraud investigation.

You Will Learn How To:

• Examine a current case study as it relates to emerging fraud trends.
• Recognize resources that law enforcement agencies use to combat fraud.
• Identify how fraudsters manufacture counterfeit documents.
• Develop the necessary skills to identify markers of fraudulent documents.

MORE Information & REGISTER HERE

REGISTRATION is now SOLD-OUT

In 2020 the OPP adopted a Framework for a Victim-Centred Approach to ensure a comprehensive, consistent, and structured approach to enhancing programs, policies and processes to better assist and understand the needs of victims/survivors. The inception of the Victim-Centred Approach Team and the Victim Specialist Program ensures victims are aware of, and can access their rights, and that they are supported throughout the criminal justice process. This presentation will provide an overview of the OPP’s Framework for a Victim-Centred Approach and those processes which ensure the OPP are meeting not only their legal obligations as they relate to victims/survivors (inclusive of victims of fraud), but also their moral and ethical obligations by recognizing and respecting an individual’s fundamental human rights.

OUR SPEAKER

Shauna Marshall: Staff Sergeant, Program Manager
Victim-Centred Approach Team
Crime Prevention & Community Support Bureau, Ontario Provincial Police

Shauna has been a member of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) since 1998 and began her career as a front-line general law enforcement officer in Arnprior, Ontario. In 2006, Shauna transitioned from front-line duties to a specialized role and became a certified Forensic Identification Officer servicing the central areas of Eastern Ontario, where she later promoted to Sergeant of the Unit. Working within this specialized field and amongst trauma on a day-to-day basis for over a decade, Shauna became acutely aware of the impact on mental health within the policing community and actively sought out opportunities to support fellow officers through education and awareness, specifically relating to operational stress injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder. In 2019, given her dedication to mental health and having a trauma-informed approach as it relates to policing in general, Shauna joined then Deputy Director Maria McDonald (Victim Support Strategy Lead, Victim-Centred Approach Team, OPP) to support the inception of the OPP's Framework for a Victim-Centred Approach and the creation of the Victim Specialist Program. Shauna is currently the Program Manger for the Victim-Centred Approach Team, which oversees the Victim Specialist Program, a Program which supports front-line investigations within 10 Detachments and the OPP’s Criminal Investigation Branch.

Shauna’s role within the Victim-Centred Approach Team further supports the implementation of a victim-centred approach to mass casualty and extreme events through the engagement of her expertise and the Victim Specialist Program, when investigations require, throughout Ontario. Shauna is a member of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) National Working Group supporting Victims of Terrorism and Mass Casualty. Within this role, Shauna facilitated the development of National Job Specifications for the Victim Specialist/Family Liaison and coinciding Management roles and is also one of the Design and Development Leads for the CACP NWG Victim Specialist Workshop: Piloting a Canadian Victim Response Framework for Terrorism, Mass Violence and Mass Casualty Events.

LOTS of FREE PARKING

This is a great opportunity for you to meet your Chapter Board of Directors and to network with other Certified Fraud Examiners as well as our industry colleagues who are involved in fighting Financial Crimes.
Please come and bring a friend or co-worker!

It is ONLY $20.00

ONLY paid-up Members of the GTA Chapter
(as identified by their name badge)
may speak or vote at the
two separate meetings that are being held on June 19:

(a) Annual General Meeting ("AGM") (6:30 pm)
(b) Special Members Meeting  (6:45 pm)

Meetings Documents
Each document will open in a new browser tab. Then "Save" it to your device.
If you cannot attend these In-Person meetings, please submit a proxy form. Instructions & Deadlines for Proxy submission are found in the form.

2024 AGM Agenda (held June 19 2025).pdf

Proxy Form_AGM for F2024 and Special Meeting for F2025.pdf

ACFE-GTA-2024 Annual Report.pdf

2023 AGM MINUTES (held June 13 2024).pdf

Financial transactions are increasingly digital, and payments processing is increasingly automated, which makes our role as fraud examiners more important than ever. Now is the time to delve into the potential of AI platforms such as ChatGPT to raise our workplace productivity, assist our fraud examination workflows and speed up or automate routine tasks, allowing us to keep our focus on strategic fraud prevention and detection activities. By demonstrating AI’s capabilities in natural language processing and generation, we will show how AI-based tools can streamline communications, answer queries and help with interactions within your organization. Additionally, AI can even help us find the formula(s) that will return the desired results in Excel or any other app. We will also look at the darker side of AI to answer questions such as: What can ChatGPT and other tools learn from your data and queries and explicitly or implicitly pass on to the rest of its userbase? Or, if you repeatedly ask AI to identify the purchase of gift cards by employees using P-cards, will the AI tool “learn” that this is a recurring and significant problem in your company?

You Will Learn How To:

• Identify the potential positive impact of AI on productivity, efficiency and fraud detection.
• Include the use of AI in the planning and reporting phases of an investigation.
• Solve hypothetical and real-world problems with the help of AI.
• Appraise the confidentiality-related issues related to sharing data and information with the tool.

OUR SPEAKER

Mark Nigrini, CA(SA)
Professor, West Virginia University

Mark J. Nigrini is an associate professor of accounting at West Virginia University. His research passion for many years has been a phenomenon known as Benford’s Law which is related to the patterns of the digits in tabulated data. The smaller digits (1s, 2s, and 3s) are expected to occur more often in scientific and financial data and Benford’s Law has shown itself to be valuable to fraud examiners in their quest to uncover fraud in corporate data. His current research addresses insider threats, and more specifically the cybersecurity risks posed by former employees. 

Nigrini is the author of Forensic Analytics (Wiley, 2020) which describes analytic tests used to detect fraud, errors, estimates, and biases in financial data, and Benford's Law (Wiley, 2012). In 2014 he published an article in the Journal of Accountancy that was co-authored with Nathan Mueller, a fraudster. That article won the Lawler award for the best article in the Journal of Accountancy in 2014. Included in his array of academic publications is the lead article in the new premier forensic accounting journal, the Journal of Forensic Accounting Research. His recent publications include the lead article in the Nov/Dec 2020 issue of Fraud Magazine. His work has been featured in, amongst others, The Financial Times, New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. His radio interviews have included the BBC in London, and NPR in the United States. His television interviews have included an interview on a fraud saga for the Evil Twins series for the Investigation Discovery Channel. He is a regular presenter at the ACFE’s Global Conferences and at events overseas such as Brazil’s Interforensics 2023. 
 

More Information & Registration

will be posted as soon as it is available

REGISTRATION OPENS August 1, 2025

Registration is limited to 168 attendees

(The ACFE-GTA Chapter is a Silver Sponsor of this event.)

REGISTRATION is now OPEN

Information on the Conference Sessions

THE AGENDA
12:30 pm - 1:20 pm    Examination failures: what are our standards?                             
  1:20 pm - 1:30 pm    10 min break
  1:30 pm - 2:20 pm    Examination failures: what are our standards? (cont'd)                  
  2:20 pm - 2:30 pm    10 min break
  2:30 pm - 3:20 pm    Wrongful convictions, bias in examinations                                  
  3:20 pm - 3:30 pm    10 min break
  3:30 pm - 4:20 pm    Wrongful convictions, bias in examinations (cont'd)
  4:20 pm - 4:30 pm    Questions & Answers, Announcements

Total Instruction (minutes): 200 (4 hours using 50 minute hours)
All times are Eastern (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) time

OUR PRESENTERS

Janet M. McHard, CPA, CFE, MAFF, CFF, CGFM, Founding Partner of The McHard Firm, is an award-winning speaker and long-time faculty member for Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.  The McHard Firm is a firm specializing in forensic accounting, fraud prevention, and accounting reconstruction. Together with her partner and staff, Janet conducts forensic and investigative accounting in matters concerning alleged white-collar crimes, embezzlements, employee theft and as well as disputed accounting issues.  Janet holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New Mexico as well as an M.B.A. from the University of New Mexico’s Robert O. Anderson Graduate School of Management.  In 2016 Janet was inducted in the UNM Anderson Schools of Management Hall of Fame.  She holds a CPA in New Mexico, Arizona and California.  She has served on several boards including the Albuquerque Housing Authority and is currently the Treasurer of Keshet Dance Company & Center for the Arts.  She is also a member of the Audit Committee of the San Diego County Bar Association.

Beth A. Mohr the Managing Partner of McHard Accounting Consulting LLC, also known as The McHard Firm.  Beth is a nationally certified law enforcement instructor (IADLEST), and also a State of California POST certified law enforcement instructor.  She is an experienced speaker and facilitator working with groups in government, for profit and non-profit sectors on many topics including investigation techniques and anti-money laundering.  Beth has over twenty-five years of experience investigating financial and white-collar crimes, in addition to death penalty mitigation cases, civil rights cases, other complex criminal and civil investigations.  She has testified as an expert witness in three states on a variety of different types of matters, including police practices, police misconduct, fraud and white-collar crimes, and Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.  Beth is retired from the San Diego Police Department.  She is a private investigator licensed by the States of New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and California, and holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of New Mexico.