Major theft of equipment at MELS studios
Posted August 9, 2023 11:26 am.
MELS studios was allegedly the victim of $700,000 worth of theft after rental fraud.
According to court documents obtained by La Presse, last June, a thief created a false company with fake identities and reached out to MELS to rent high-end equipment.
MELS and the alleged company went back and forth by email to work out the rental details, and on June 19, a company under the name Productions O.M.S. transferred $6,519 to the studio to finalize the rental transaction.
The next day a person showed up at the studio to pick up the equipment, that should have been returned on June 26.
MELS even agreed to extend the rental period, with a promise to pay upfront, and two individuals came to pick up six more camera lenses.
As of July 3, none of the equipment was returned. MELS reached out to the company who said everything was returned two days prior.
In the court documents, MELS states that was false. Nothing was returned. That’s the last time they heard from the individual.
MELS studios filed a complaint with the Montreal police department, who presented themselves at the studio and discovered the drivers license given to rent the equipment was fake and stolen from someone living in Trois-Rivieres.
MELS also hired a private security firm to try and get their equipment back – and when they went to Production O.M.S’s so-called offices, they found an apartment building on a dead-end road in Montreal North, with no sign of the alleged owner or the business.
MELS filed a request for an injunction at the Quebec Superior Court to force the Bank of Montreal (BMO), where funds were transferred from, to provide information about the individual behind the account. BMO did not oppose, so the injunction was granted by a judge.
The studio hopes to obtain surveillance footage of the individual who opened an account at the bank in person.
