Six charged in lotto ticket fraud scheme

Six Calgarians have been charged after a credit card scam was used to fraudulently purchase lottery tickets and other items from small convenience stores over the course of two months across Alberta.

Mounties say a series of crimes involving “manual entry transaction fraud” took place between Dec. 31, 2023, and Feb. 26 this year. They say the suspects targeted small convenience stores, requesting $5,000 in Sports Select and $1,000 in Keno — the maximum amounts allowed in a day — and pay by manually entering a false Mastercard number that doesn't match the card presented.

“The transaction will go through as approved, but since the actual credit card is not present at the time of purchase in the machine itself, the bank will (upon notification of the card-holder dispute) reverse the charges and charge back the retailer,” the Alberta RCMP said in a news release. “This does not happen right away and can take several weeks.”

Suspects would also buy prepaid credit cards, gift cards and scratchand-win tickets, police say.

“Most retailers have admitted that the transactions seemed unusual but proceeded to sell to the suspect(s) until a call is placed by the Western Canada Lottery Corporation to the retailer to inquire on the payment made on these purchases,” said RCMP in a news release.

The offences occurred in several locations across the province, including Raymond, Lethbridge, Vegreville, Two Hills and Sundre. Mounties with the RCMP'S Southern Alberta District Crime Reduction Unit, the Raymond RCMP and officials from the WCLC were all involved in the investigation.

Mounties executed a search warrant at a home in the 2000 block of 34 St. S.W. in Calgary on March 19, resulting in charges against six people.

Melody Velasquez, Jessica Nyome Vinje, Angelo Ross Diaz and Rommel Manansala Togado, all from Calgary, are facing two counts each for fraud over $5,000 and trafficking or possessing credit card data. Calgarians Jay Obrador and Maynard Go Recibio each face the same charges, as well as a third for money laundering.

Obrador is to appear in provincial court in Lethbridge on April 24. The other five are wanted on warrants.