The takedown was immediate. In the weeks that followed, the charge sheet would grow to more than 800 cases, including fraud, theft and conspiracy, related to more than a dozen moving companies operated by the men that transported clients locally and across the country. This is perhaps the largest ever prosecution of carriers accused of defrauding their customers. None of the allegations have been proven in court. As Dogan Celik and Cemal Ozturk were led away in handcuffs, a CBC Marketplace team watched. This is the story of how the case came together. WATCHES | Exclusive video shows the arrest of alleged animated fraudsters:
Exclusive video shows the arrest of alleged moving fraudsters
After years of complaints, movers who police say will quote low but high moving prices are being arrested and hundreds of charges have been brought against them.
The methods of movers
Complaints have been consistent for years, to police, the Better Business Bureau, Consumer Protection Ontario and online reviews. But researchers suggest that when a moving company’s name became too problematic, the name would be changed. A reset of sorts to wipe the slate clean. “The new company names that were created in March of this year were not on our radar,” said Const. Chris Long of the Toronto Police. Using hidden cameras, Marketplace reporters posed as moving customers, documenting practices similar to what police would later allege in a criminal complaint. (CBC) His research began soon after one Buy episode aired that looked at the same set of carriers, but police say they weren’t aware of this incident until later in their own investigation. The alleged scam uncovered by Marketplace appears to be identical to what police later found. It would begin with a customer being offered a quote or estimate based on what carriers described as an industry standard. On the day of the move, they made the customers sign a new contract. But “when the victim’s property was en route to their destination, a company representative contacted them and told them they would have to pay much higher prices, sometimes as much as 300 to 500 percent of the original estimate.” Long said. This was often based on claims that the items weighed more than the original quote. If the customer didn’t pay, police and customers claim the movers would threaten to throw away their belongings. Dogan Celik is placed in a prisoner transport truck by Toronto police after his arrest on a number of criminal charges related to the trucking companies he operates. (David Common/CBC) But the researchers had a gap in their information. They were usually contacted only after a customer realized something was wrong. There was no evidence of how much their belongings weighed before the move. And once the carriers loaded their truck, they asked customers to sign a contract agreeing to a fixed weight, while also giving up any right to actually weigh any of it. And then another officer told Long what he’d just seen on TV: the initial Marketplace investigation where reporters were posing as customers and making a move with one of the suspect companies. The reporters actually weighed their belongings and had evidence that the suggested flat weight was far greater than the actual weight of the items. They also used hidden cameras and satellite trackers as part of the investigation. “It was good for me because it gave some insight,” Long said. “It gave me a lot of validation for what I was doing.”
Destruction of mobiles, return of objects
When the police arrested the alleged principals of the various companies, Ozturk and Celik, they also found hundreds of furniture and boxes belonging to customers in their warehouses. They knew what to look for, they later said, because Marketplace had a hidden camera inside the warehouse in its episode. At least some of the contents were held pending further payment. Rescuers have handed over Marie Clark Walker’s belongings after her original movers held them for weeks awaiting payment of an unexpected cost. (David McIntosh/CBC) Marie Clarke Walker started her move from Ottawa to Toronto with an estimate of $723.20. Shortly after pickup, that price jumped to $4,009.26. She thought she would never see her belongings again – until she got a call from the police saying “we’ve found your stuff”, a moment she describes as leaving her “extremely happy”. “It wasn’t the couch and the four beds” he was excited to see. Instead, they were “pictures, those mementos I could never get back.” Other moving companies, all members of the Canadian Association of Movers, collected her belongings — and those of dozens of customers — and returned them. Walker is now one of dozens of clients linked to the criminal complaint. Ozturk and Celik now face more than 270 charges on charges ranging from fraud to possession of proceeds of crime, conspiracy, theft and disorderly conduct. Marketplace reached out to both men for comment, though neither said a word. He also reached out to their lawyers, but did not receive a comment. Before the episode aired in March, Celik sent out a statement saying he valued his customers and promised a full review of operations. Cemal Ozturk (left) and Dogan Celik face hundreds of charges each, ranging from fraud to conspiracy and theft. (Toronto Police Service)
The movers’ bad week is getting worse
After the arrests in June, investigators moved quickly to move the two men to Toronto’s South Detention Centre, a sprawling complex with few windows and high walls. They would spend six days there, appearing in court by video link in orange overalls, before being released on bail. Lawyer Rocco Scoco was waiting for them. “While I’m glad to see law enforcement do that … I’ve been frustrated with them for the last couple of years because they shouldn’t even be in my office as a civil judge,” he said. The attorney was in the jail parking lot with stacks of civil lawsuits from previous clients. He had to serve the two men with the documents, but he couldn’t find them. Ozturk was the first to leave and quickly went to a waiting car. But the driver of that car had his window open as he sped away. Scocco threw the lawsuits at the car while yelling, “We served you, Mr. Ozturk.” A similar scene played out a few minutes later when Celik was released. In the weeks that followed, Chatham-Kent Police will also charge the two men. Two more people connected to the operations will also be arrested. Days after the initial arrests, police will arrest a woman who now faces 269 charges. Police informed the investigation in the autumnannouncing the arrest of a second woman on a handful of charges. There are also more than a dozen civil lawsuits pending against Ozturk and his company Move Me Again. It’s a long legal road ahead and the largest investigation ever for Long’s Toronto police as they work to prove his allegations in court. “This isn’t even about consumer protection,” he said. “Consumer protections are designed to actually govern legitimate businesses, not to govern criminality, which I believe these moving scams are downright criminal.”
