Waterloo Regional Police investigation to put an end to notice of security scam
Posted Mar 8, 2024 07:55:48 AM.
Last Updated Mar 8, 2024 07:55:53 AM.
Waterloo Regional Police are protecting homeowners in Ontario through an investigation into the use of a legal tool that was being used to scam vulnerable homeowners.
As Detective Adam Stover of the Waterloo Regional Police Service explained, a notice of security interest (NOSI) is a document that is registered against the title of your home for any fixture that’s installed, like water heaters, furnaces, or potlights.
Scam companies would hold homeowners hostage as the NOSI would need to be settled before a home could be sold, with one NOSI costing $10,000 to $15,000.
Det. Stover has been investigating NOSI’s since 2010, but the investigation intensified in 2020 when police identified they were being used criminally.
“It became a tool used by organized crime to target and revictimize people who had notices of security on title from the years previous,” said Stover. “They really identified an aging population in Ontario that have a lot of equity in their home.”
Stover added that NOSI’s cost homeowners over a billion dollars, adding that 38,000 NOSI’s were registered in the province last year.
MPP for Durham, Todd McCarthy, said he intends to table legislation this spring that will place a definitive ban on all NOSI’s.
