Police charge man with credit card fraud
The Calgary Police Service Economic Crimes Unit has charged a man with 36 fraud and breach of court condition-related offences as a result of a tip from the public.
In November 2014, investigators received a tip identifying a man who was reportedly making fraudulent transactions. Upon further investigation, the man was believed to be connected to several instances of credit and debit card fraud that occurred between March and October 2014, at various fast food restaurants, electronic stores and pharmacies.
It’s alleged the suspect manually entered stolen credit card numbers into pin pads while making a purchase. In some cases, this process would be done contrary to store policy and the clerk would then have to refund the purchase, which the suspect accepted onto debit cards that didn’t belong to him. In other incidents, the suspect would physically change the purchase amount on the pin pad and then directly refund himself large amounts of money onto debit cards.
On Thursday, April 9, 2015, Andrew Robert WANNEK, 24, of Calgary, was charged with 12 counts each of:
- Fraud under $5,000
- Unlawful use of credit card data
- Breach of probation
WANNEK is being held in custody until his next court date on Tuesday, April 28, 2015.
Business owners and merchants are reminded of the following tips to prevent payment card fraud:
- Be aware of any suspicious customer behaviour including an extended period of time pressing buttons on the pin pad.
- Check that the printed receipts match the physical numbers on the credit card used in the transaction.
- Only swipe transactions when a payment card does not have a chip.
- Manually entering credit card data could leave the merchant liable for any fraudulent activity.
- Develop a daily routine to check all equipment for tampering and shred sensitive documents.
- Report any suspicious activity police by calling 403-266-1234, or 9-1-1 for a crime in progress.
Anyone with information about these or other instances is asked 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
Case # 14214767 / 4108