It’s the biggest fraud and ID theft operation a seasoned police officer has ever seen.
“This is very big, very significant,” said Insp. Tim Shields. “Certainly I have not seen this volume of documents before.”
Describing this find as one giant tentacle from a monster that has now been severed, Shields said this operation unfortunately has “many more tentacles.”
It came to the police’s attention when they received a tip that a card printing machine had been brought in to a shop for repair, and employees found a credit card inside. These machines are normally used for printing IDs, such as at a gym or community centre.
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After discovering who dropped off the machine for repair, the trail eventually led police to a home in Burnaby where a man and his common-law wife were arrested.
Mounties found 3,000 items inside their home relating to credit card theft and fraud. This included 500 individual pieces of ID of 115 separate people. They also found boxes of stolen mail, hotel receipts, passport, a Canada Post bag and jacket, a Taser, and three replica air rifles and two pellet hand guns, among many others.
Police also found 24 separate aliases that they say were used to fraudulently transfer funds and apply for lines of credit at various banks.
But Shields said police believe more people are involved.
“This is obviously a very organized group of people,” he said. “We’ve just started to see the tip of the iceberg.”
Shields added that police believe this operation reached into every municipality in the Lower Mainland and “legit account holders have had their money taken over or hijacked.”
He said the investigation is ongoing, and is so large they have not yet had the time to look up individual names of those who may be a victim.
Anthony Stulec of Burnaby is facing 18 fraud related charges.
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