Suspected ‘fraud factory’ bust results in seizure of $300K in goods: Burnaby RCMP

Burnaby RCMP say they arrested four men and seized $300,000 worth of equipment and materials related to a suspected “fraud factory.”

In a Thursday media release, Mounties said the seized items were linked to two alleged fraudulent purchases in Burnaby.

The first involved the purchase of a pair of industrial printers capable of producing drivers’ licences, bank drafts, credit cards and other identification documents with a total value of about $97,000.

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About two weeks later, a pair of excavators and a generator valued at more than $215,000 were purchased using a forged bank draft, police said.

The Burnaby RCMP Prolific Offender Suppression Team raided a property near the Katzie Slough in Pitt Meadows, where they located the equipment in what Mounties said appeared to be an “organized fraud factory.”

Investigators also seized hundreds of other items, including printers, hard drives, laser engravers, a VIN plate stamping machine and modifying tools, hundreds of phony ID and blank ID cards, blank bank draft paper and a hand gun and ammunition.

The four suspects have yet to be charged, and have since been released.

Police said they’re being investigated on potential charges of fraud over $5,000, theft over $5,000, possession of stolen property over $5,000, uttering forged documents and identification fraud.