Welland man charged with fraud of Niagara Falls business

When a Niagara Falls business started getting unusual calls from their bank, they brought in the Niagara Police and before long, it became apparent it was an inside job.

In February, the police began a fraud investigation of the business on Thorold Stone Road near Portage Road, after hearing the bank had contacted employees over the deposit of suspicious cheques totaling just over $30,000 into the bank accounts of two corporations.

The employees told the police they had not authorized the payments and the bank was able to reverse the cheque deposits.

In the end, it turned out an employee, who was responsible for assisting with accounting duties, had issued the cheques out to his own corporations.

On March 2, Antonio Di Gioia, 58, of Welland was charged with uttering forged documents, falsification of books and documents and fraud Over $5,000.

He was released from custody with a future court date.

Anyone with information about this investigation is asked to contact detectives at 905-688-4111, extension 1009487.