Credit card fraud charges

The Calgary Police Service has charged a man with credit card fraud as a result of employee vigilance at a local business.

On Saturday, Jan. 30, 2015, a man entered a store located in the 3800 block of Memorial Drive E., and attempted to purchase goods with a prepaid credit card that had been loaded with stolen credit card data. During the transaction, the clerk became suspicious of the customer’s behaviour and noted the gift card was not recognized by the terminal as it should have been. Knowing these may be signs of fraudulent activity, the clerk immediately called CPS.

Investigators would like to thank this clerk for their attentiveness and timely reporting, which allowed officers to apprehend the individual while the crime was in progress.

Brandon MARTELL, 26, was charged with six counts of possession of credit card data.  There are further charges pending associated to this file. His next court date is Thursday, March 5, 2015.

The Economic Crimes Unit would like to encourage business owners to make themselves and their employees aware of the following tips to prevent credit card fraud:

• Be aware of any suspicious customer behaviour.
• Always insert a chip card into the terminal. Only swipe transactions when the chip is not present.
• Manually entering credit card data could leave the merchant liable for any fraudulent activity.
• Report any suspicious activity to police by calling 403-266-1234, or 9-1-1 for a crime in progress.

Anyone who may have information about this case is asked to contact 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