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A traffic stop for a stolen license plate in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, on 28 June has uncovered a credit card-counterfeiting and fraud operation there. Four Canadians face charges in the scheme after police say they discovered in a truck and in their apartments nearly 1,000 counterfeit credit cards and card stock, along with card-counterfeiting equipment and supplies, counterfeit driver's licenses, stolen credit-bureau reports, merchandise purchased with stolen card data, and a key that opens Canadian postal service distribution boxes. Members of the card-fraud ring allegedly used the key to steal mail while searching for bills, credit card and bank statements, and other documents. Then they used the information to open fraudulent card and other loan accounts, Edmonton Police Service Det. Bob Gauthier tells CardLine Global. Mail theft using counterfeit keys is not unusual, Gauthier says. "We arrested some guys a couple of months ago doing the same thing," he says. The thieves allegedly also broke into a variety of retail businesses, where they uploaded onto thumb drives payment card data stored on computer hard drives within the businesses. Using that information and stolen card data they likely bought from "carder" sites online, the thieves racked up between C$800 (US$702.79 or 504.76 euros) and C$1,000 Canadian on several of the forged cards, Gauthier says. Officials are investigating a larger fraud ring tied to the four suspects, according to Gauthier.
