Suspect arrested after stolen credit info fraud spree
A 30-year-old woman was arrested Thursday for committing numerous financial crimes this year using stolen credit card information.
Saanich police, following a joint investigation with the Regional Crime Unit and West Shore RCMP, saw the woman purchased money orders, merchandise and lottery tickets from a number of retailers across the province since February.
She would use a debit card to make the purchases, but would override the handheld machine by manually entering stolen credit card information.
Saanich police Sgt. Dean Jantzen said police first became aware of the frauds after retailers contacted them about multiple declined transactions, which appeared suspicious.
"There are also some local retailers that are out significant dollars," he said. "Some of the attempts were as high as $800. Each fraud attempt to be in the hundreds of dollars. Not all were successful, but some were – now we're having to track backwards."
The woman was arrested without incident near Burnside and Tillicum roads.
As of Friday, the suspect remained in police custody.
kslavin@saanichnews.com
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