Out on bail pending appeal, convicted businessman accused of new $17.5K scam

An Ontario woman says she was offered a financial lifeline after being duped by a controversial HVAC company — only for the proposed solution to sink her further into debt.

Marcy Barbaro has since learned troubling details about the man who she says promised to negotiate a way out of her costly contract: he did so while out on bail, awaiting appeal for his own alleged misdeeds in the industry.

Barbaro, of Midland, Ont., says she sent Raymond Kalonga — or as she knew him, “Ray Stephens” — $17,500.

“I do not understand how someone can be so duplicitous,” Barbaro said. 

The latest development comes two years after Kalonga, 38, left a trail of unhappy customers and creditors in his wake during his time in St. John’s, where he operated his own company, Atlantic Standard HVAC.

He ran that business in Newfoundland while facing trouble in the courts in Ontario for his handling of a previous door-to-door sales company there. 

Kalonga is currently out on bail while appealing a 525-day jail sentence and half-a-million dollar fine levied under Ontario consumer protection laws.

In that case, Kalonga claims he didn’t instruct his legal counsel to enter guilty pleas when they did, which he says nullifies the conviction and sentence.

Met on Facebook group for HVAC customers

Before connecting with Kalonga, Barbaro ran into problems with an unrelated company. 

Customers of Provincial Smart Home Services say that company convinced them to buy expensive HVAC systems and other equipment they didn't need, by promising government rebates that never came and savings on energy bills that never materialized.  

• HVAC scams are still happening. Why is the government failing to act?
• Watchdog: Investigating questionable HVAC contracts; how to buy Canadian

Barbaro was one of those customers, staring down a more than $27,000 bill. 

Then, in early 2025, a saving grace. 

Barbaro says a man named Ray Stephens began posting on a Facebook group for customers of Provincial Smart Home Services, saying his company had two decades of experience in the industry and could help them. 

Barbaro says Kalonga — a.k.a. Stephens — offered to negotiate a buyout at half the cost, touting his experience and connections in the industry, and explaining how scammers work the system.

“He knows these contracts, he knows these scammers, and he may be able to offer a way out,” Barbaro told CBC News.

“He immediately sympathized with me. He explained to me how these scams worked.”

The two communicated through WhatsApp for months, often about their own lives and ambitions. Kalonga spoke of his deep faith, quoting scripture and espousing inspirational sentiments. Barbaro says they were becoming friends. 

Barbaro provided the text, audio, and video messages to CBC News. 

In those messages, Kalonga expressed distaste at Provincial Smart Home Services, calling it “more than just fraud. It is manipulation and physiological abuse.” 

Barbaro says his apparent candidness about the industry helped build trust. 

“I told you before, the finance companies honestly play this game where if they think [they] can strong arm an older person, unintelligent person or immigrant they do,” Kalonga wrote in a message to Barbaro in February 2025.

Messages show Kalonga offered to negotiate a buyout at a reduced rate for Barbaro — for a fee of $5,000.

An invoice and credit card statement provided by Barbaro show she paid one of Kalonga’s companies $2,500 on Feb. 11, 2025, for a loan consultation with a 30-day guarantee. 

Thirty days came and went —  without progress, she says.

Kalonga told Barbaro to be patient. 

“You can see why I wanted to move forward with it,” Barbaro said.

“He'd already done me favours, he'd already taken time to explain to me how the contracts work, explained who the major players were … He was available at my beck and call through WhatsApp chat.”

Two months later, Barbaro sent $12,500 to another of Kalonga’s companies. She says that money was meant to go directly to Financeit, the lender behind Barbaro’s Provincial Smart Home Services contract. 

“I don’t think you realize yet how much pull I have in this industry,” Kalonga wrote to Barbaro in April 2025. “Not tooting my own horn but I know my way around this game.”

She sent the remaining $2,500 for his services days later. 

To date, the lender Financeit says it has not received the money and has no record of dealing with Kalonga. Barbaro still owes the lender.

Barbaro says she only understood the full extent of the deceit last September after learning Raymond Stephens is actually Raymond Kalonga. She Googled him, and found this 2024 article from CBC Investigates.

“That was a horrible moment,” she said. “While out on appeal he scammed me.”

Kalonga messages suggest links to warranty company

Not only that, Barbaro says Kalonga enlisted her to promote yet another company that’s been accused of targeting HVAC customers.

CBC News has spoken with several Provincial Smart Home customers who were unknowingly debited $33 monthly by Canada Home Protect — a company they were unfamiliar with. The company says it provides home warranty services. 

Some customers told CBC News they were able to cancel the automatic payments by calling their bank. Others say they lost out on hundreds of dollars, before realizing they were being charged for services they never asked for. 

“There is a clear pattern of repeated victimization,” said Bethanie Pascutto, lawyer at the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE).

“Once one of these unscrupulous actors is able to successfully take something from a vulnerable member of society, then that information tends to be shared.”  

Pascutto says ACE has received thousands of phone calls from seniors in Ontario who believe they were scammed by door-to-door HVAC salespeople.

Then, last year, she began getting calls about Canada Home Protect. 

“The concern that a lot of people had was that [the] protection plan was supposed to be included in the amount that they had already paid for Provincial Smart [Home Services],” she said. 

“And also the fact that their banking information was being given to a different company without their consent and or even knowledge.”

Pascutto says she has contacted the company numerous times but has been unable to determine who is behind it.

However, the WhatsApp messages between Barbaro and Kalonga give a clue. 

In April 2025, Barbaro told Kalonga she was apprehensive about writing a positive review for Canada Home Protect in the Facebook page for customers of Provincial Smart Home.

WATCH | ‘I was never so scared in my whole life:’ How a search for help turned into a financial nightmare:

CBC Investigates: He offered to help save her from debt — then took $17.5K instead

1 hour ago|

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She said customers there were complaining Canada Home Protect charged them for services they did not ask for, and that they were unable to reach the company. 

“Unfortunately everyone is labeled a scam on this group. The only real scam is PSHS,” Kalonga replied.

CBC has been unable to locate business filings for the company to determine who is behind it. However, the address listed on Canada Home Protect’s website in downtown Toronto is actually a virtual office. That address is also used by one of Kalonga’s companies, Green Innovation Corp., according to wire transfer information between Barbaro and Kalonga. 

Kalonga himself claimed to Barbaro in messages that he had links to Canada Home Protect. 

“I stand by my businesses and none of my customers have ever been left to suffer unmet promises,” Kalonga wrote. 

Kalonga wrote those messages while he was out on bail, pending his appeal in Ontario after he was convicted of doing just that. 

On bail conditions to live in N.L., Kalonga registers business in U.S.

A CBC News investigation into Kalonga more than two years ago uncovered a trail of debts, frustrated customers and scathing commentary from an Ontario justice of the peace who called him “deceitful.”

• CBC Investigates | Hot air and broken promises
• Owner of HVAC company in N.L. files appeal in Ontario consumer affairs case

In February 2024, Kalonga was sentenced to more than 500 days in jail and fined half-a-million dollars for his conduct running a door-to-door sales company in Ontario from 2012 to 2013. 

He is currently appealing on the grounds that the guilty plea wasn’t valid because the pleas were entered without Kalonga and his company’s consent.

A hearing date has not yet been set. 

As part of his bail conditions, Kalonga is ordered to remain living in Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s, N.L.

However, it is clear in video messages to Barbaro, in public social media posts and through business filings that Kalonga has spent a significant amount of time in the United States.

Documents show Kalonga filed to incorporate a business called Astute Group Enterprises in December, in Fort Lauderdale. Florida business records list Kalonga's address at a residence in Massachusetts.

There is no one protecting the consumer from a criminal like Ray Kalonga.- Marcy Barbaro

A website under Kalonga’s name appears to have launched in July touting Kalonga’s services in business, investment, and speaking engagements.

During a court hearing on Feb. 10 in Newmarket, Ont., Kalonga’s lawyer for his appeal confirmed he is under an order to live in Newfoundland, and asked that he appear virtually for future court appearances. 

“I presume he would be appearing from Newfoundland unless — I know sometimes he conducts business in other provinces so it's possible it would be another province,” said defence lawyer Mindy Caterina.

In an email to CBC News, Caterina said her client’s bail conditions do not restrict travel.

Offer to pay money back

Now, more than a year after Kalonga promised to help, Barbaro says she is left with few options and mountains of debt. She has filed a complaint with Ontario Provincial Police’s anti-rackets division and her local detachment. 

Barbaro says going to small claims court would be a waste of time. 

“I know I would win, but I won't get any money back — it doesn't matter,” Barbaro said.

“There is no one protecting the consumer from a criminal like Ray Kalonga.”

After CBC News contacted Kalonga for this story, a legal representative contacted Barbaro on Kalonga's behalf with an offer to pay the money back.

As of publishing time, Kalonga had agreed to pay back the $17,500 in full, plus interest.