Ex-CRA employee allegedly embezzled almost $20,000 in CERB, CRCB scam: RCMP

By Sissi De Flaviis, CTVNews.ca Writer

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    Toronto, Ontario (CTV Network) — A Yukon resident and former employee of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is alleged to have embezzled nearly $20,000 from government assistance funding, according to the RCMP.

Melissa Jensen Webb was arrested and charged on Aug. 10 following allegations related to two federal benefits: the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB).

Mounties said in a news release Wednesday that Jensen Webb was working for the CRA in Alberta at the time.

The RCMP’s financial crime team alleges that Jensen Webb was embezzling government money by falsely claiming CERB and the CRCB between April 2020 and January 2021.

The benefits were put in place by the federal government for those who were out of work or otherwise impacted by the pandemic – for example, for workers who were laid off due to business closures, or for those who had to quit their jobs to care for their children when schools closed.

The RCMP did not outline its case, but wrote of the allegations, “The act of accessing and altering data on any internal database is an extreme abuse of one’s position.”

John Lammin, sergeant with Alberta’s Provincial Financial Crime Team, said in the news release, “By manipulating these systems, the accused personally benefitted from fraudulent payments.”

The 39-year-old now faces multiple charges including fraud over $5,000, unauthorized access to a computer and accessing confidential information.

Jensen Webb, who now resides in Dawson City, Yukon, a town of approximately 2,000 people, is scheduled to appear in Stony Plain Provincial Court in Alberta on Sept. 20.

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