Edmonton Police Service (EPS) has charged a 60-year-old woman for allegedly defrauding a local senior of at least $1.6 million.
EPS first began its investigation in 2019 after the family of a now 88-year-old man contacted police. Police believe he was defrauded by Tina “Phoeut” Soeung.
The family says the woman befriended the man between 2008 and 2017 and slowly defrauded him of around $5 million.
“To date, investigators have been able to substantiate at least $1.6 million in stolen funds,” EPS said.
Soeung was charged with one count of fraud over $5,000 in September.
“This is an unfortunate case of the accused actively taking advantage of someone’s kindness and generosity, as is often the circumstance in frauds,” said Det. Dayna Bulas with the EPS Financial Crimes Section.
“While we’re unable to recover the funds that were lost, we’re hopeful we can prevent the accused from victimizing others in a similar way.”
Police say they have reason to believe Soeung may have befriended and defrauded others in a similar way.
Anyone who believes they have been targeted by her are asked to contact EPS at 780-423-4567 or call Crime Stoppers.