Montrealers face fraud charges

The RCMP has arrested two Montreal men in connection with using other people's identity to defraud the federal Employment Insurance program of $125,000 over two years.

A spokesman for the RCMP says the identities were allegedly obtained from workers in the underground economy who didn't report their work, or their income.

41-year-old François Bernard Paradis faces 46 counts of fraud, while 38-year-old Patrick Etienne Larocque faces one count of conspiracy.

Meantime, four Montrealers were busted on fraud charges in a joint police operation.

The four are accused of stealing nearly $2 million from a Calgary-based company, by hacking into its computers, and making pre-paid debit cards with falsely inflated values.

They'd then use the cards to make cash withdrawals -- most of which were made in Montreal.

30-year-old Pricilla Mastrangelo, 28-year-old Jean-Francois Ralph, and 33-year-old Spyros Xenoulis, and 29-year-old Ehud Tenenbaum, all face a host of fraud charges.