Police warn of credit card scam
Stolen credit info used to buy gift cards
Police say a credit card scam going around Calgary for the past month is ripping off retailers and supermarkets.
Since mid-November, police say they have received a number of complaints from retailers and supermarkets about one man and two women buying prepaid Visa gift cards in Calgary, Edmonton and elsewhere in Alberta.
According to police, the trio use a fake chip credit card where the chip was not activated. When they attempt to use the card, the chip doesn’t work and the card has to be swiped.
The information on the magnetic stripe, however, was obtained from stolen credit cards. They have also used fake IDs from Quebec, say police.
“Following the transactions, the merchants discover the credit cards are false,” said Det. Dean Nichol. “Due to the use of the ‘swipe’ method used in transacting on the card, the merchant is put at a financial loss.”
The culprits are believed to be part of a larger fraud and theft ring operating in the province.
Nichol said the suspects buy $100 cards in a quantity of eight to 10 at a time, and investigators don’t know where the prepaid Visa cards are ending up.
“Any large purchase of gift cards using a credit card that seemingly doesn’t work in the point-of-sale device first should draw some suspicion from the merchant,” said Nichol.
Police don’t know how many victims had their credit card information stolen for the suspects’ fraudulent cards.
“What happens in a case like this is the (magnetic) stripe data on the fake card will have been obtained illegally though some other means, such as credit card skimming,” he said.
“Once that mag stripe data is obtained, the culprits can then place that on a new cloned card and then produce that card.
The man is described as Caucasian, 20 to 25 years-old, medium height and medium build, with brown hair and brown eyes and wearing a distinctive brown bomber-style jacket, with a white, fur-trimmed collar. He sometimes wears a dark-coloured ball cap.
The female suspects are described by police as being in their late teens or early 20s, short, with slim builds and darker skin. One female suspect had black hair, slightly below the shoulders, while the other has black hair to waistlength. Both tend to wear tight-fitting clothing.