Charges in credit card fraud
The Calgary Police Service has laid 20 counterfeiting and fraud related charges against two individuals.
On Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014, at approximately 3 p.m., police were called to a hotel in the 5900 block of Blackfoot Trail S.E., for a report of a room being booked with a fraudulent credit card.
Officers attended the hotel where one male and one female were taken into custody. During the arrest, officers observed a large number of credit cards and credit card blanks in the hotel room and immediately notified the Economic Crimes Unit (ECU).
The ECU Fraud Team responded to the hotel and found equipment and materials which are known to be used to manufacture counterfeit credit cards. Equipment and materials seized from the hotel room include a credit card embosser, a foil tipping machine, a mag strip encoder, over 600 pre-printed blank (un-embossed) credit cards and a computer storing stolen credit card data. Investigators also found $6,210 in cash, over $6,500 in prepaid gift cards and a number of brand new Apple products.
Philippe NERIN, 22, of Quebec, is charged with one count each of:
- Possession of property obtained by crime
- Resist, obstruct, omit to assist a public/peace officer
- Possess, sell, offer identity documents
- Possess/makes/repairs/buys/sells device for forging credit cards
- Fraudulent credit card data – use, possess, traffic
- Identity theft
- Fraudulently sell, possess or mark a stamp
- Defraud a person over $5,000 of money, service
- Theft, illegal use, forgery, trafficking of credit card
- Utter to deal with a forged document
- Obtain food or lodging by fraud
Yancee LEMIRE, 19, of Quebec, is charged with one count each of:
- Possession of property obtained by crime
- Resist, obstruct, omit to assist a public/peace officer
- Possess, sell, offer identity documents
- Possess/makes/repairs/buys/sells device for forging credit cards
- Fraudulent credit card data – use, possess, traffic
- Identity theft
- Fraudulently sell, possess or mark a stamp
- Defraud a person over $5,000 of money, service
- Possession of locally stolen credit card
The investigation remains ongoing and police are currently in the process of notifying the appropriate agencies regarding counterfeit identity cards and stolen credit card data.
Anyone who feels they may have been a victim of identity theft or credit card fraud is encouraged to call police at 403-266-1234, or Crime Stoppers anonymously using any of the following methods:
TALK: 1-800-222-8477
TYPE: www.calgarycrimestoppers.org
TEXT: tttTIPS to 274637