In the 6 weeks since I have been scammed I have talked to numerous other women scammed by Wes De Vries. Places where they met him include online, pof, craigslist, coffee shops, restaurants, clubs, through friends.... basically anywhere you can meet someone. He has ties to Vancouver, Kerrisdale, Yaletown, Coquitlam, New West, Nanaimo, Victoria, North Vancouver, Squamish, Whistler, Kamloops, the Okanagan, Toronto, Montreal....
Please warn all the women in your life about him. The next victim could be your friend, your sister, maybe even your mother... I have knowledge of at least 25 victims from the last 10 years and he has been in jail for a lot of that time so he works fast when he is out on the loose.
Thought I would include an excerpt from a judge's statement in 2004 as to why she was sentencing Wes De Vries to 5 1/2 years. You can see the whole document at this link if you would like;
http://canlii.ca/t/1hm8f
[16] Count 5 involves S.P. When they were on their second date he started his ruse, wanting a cheque deposited. She refused. He attended at her bank, behind her back, and made the deposit. He returned to the bank and deposited a second cheque without her knowledge. She suffered a $3,574 loss.
[17] With respect to Count 6, this involves A.F. Again, two cheques ended up being deposited to her account on the ruse that he had no access to his bank over the weekend. Again, as I understood the facts, this was a dating kind of relationship. She suffered a loss of $6,373.
[18] As to Count 7, these are the theft of cheques of C.S. They went out for dinner and Count 8 involves the fact that when they were on their way, they were stopped by the police and Mr. Devries gave a false name to the police because he believed, according to a later statement, there would be warrants out for his arrest. During the course of his contact with Ms. S., he stole cheques from her residence.
[19] Counts 9 and 10 involve Ms. S.G. These two knew each other from high school. They agreed to meet for coffee. They dated for a couple of weeks. He deposited a cheque to her account, again saying that he had lost his bank card. Then a second cheque was deposited. He refused to give Ms. G. her card back. She then determined her American Express card had been stolen. She suffered $8,500 in loss relating to her debit card and $1,500 on her AmEx, for a total loss of $11,839.63.
[20] Count 11 involves cheques taken from a G.G. Mr. Devries, in his statement, said that he had found those in the garbage.
[21] Count 12 involves L.E. Again, he met Ms. E. over the Internet. They met up in person. He gave her the line that he had been audited with respect to child support and needed to use her bank account. He defrauded her of $3,940.
[22] Count 13 involves Mr. Devries stealing L.N.'s cheques.
[23] Count 14 involves a C.P. Again, they met over the Internet. After dating him, she discovered her bank card missing and determined two cheques had been deposited to her account. She was defrauded of $3,875.
[24] Count 15 involves R.C. They met at a coffee bar. Eventually he talked her into depositing a $2,700 cheque. Apparently he told her it was guaranteed good. She then went to visit him at his hotel. She had worked a night shift and took a nap. During the course of this, he took her debit card. He said it was to refund some purchases they had made after he had deposited the cheque. In any event, he warned her not to contact the police, that it would only make things worse, and that he had a lot of connections. He defrauded Ms. C. of $5,242.72.
[25] Count 16 and 17 involve S.B. He met Ms. B. just after his release from custody at Whistler. They had a long-distance relationship. They met up again at Whistler, at which time he stole her credit card. He spent about $6,000 on her card before it was frozen. He then convinced her that he would pay her back. She continued to see him until she found out he had stolen yet a second credit card from her. Her total loss was $8,100.
[26] Count 18 involves another romantic relationship with a L.L. He described that he was having a dispute with his wife. He then stole Ms. L.'s debit card and deposited three cheques to her account, causing her a $7,000 loss.
[27] Count 19 involves the cheques of L.T., which he stole and later used to make false deposits. In fact, Mr. Devries actually paid Ms. T. back $500, which was originally her loss.
[28] In Count 20, he used Ms. T.'s card to attempt to negotiate a fraudulent Lotto cheque. There was no loss. He was not successful.
[29] Count 21 involves D.B. Again, they met over the Internet. They had a date. He gave her the story that he could not use his account because he was being audited for child support. He talked her into depositing cheques. They went shopping and he took cash. He also stole her cheques. She suffered a $1,000 loss.
[30] Count 23, involves B.H. They met and had a date. He told her he forgot his wallet in a bar. She gave him her card and PIN number. He supposedly used it at the 7-Eleven and once for a business licence. Instead, she found out he had bought a flat screen television and other items. She suffered a $9,500 loss. What is interesting is that, in fact, some of Ms. H.'s money went to seduce, if I can use that term, the complainant on Count 16 in this matter.
[31] There are 23 victims total in Mr. Devries' most recent spree. Fourteen of these victims have suffered a total loss of $85,316.35. The Crown is seeking restitution for each of them under s. 738 of the Code.
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