A man, woman and a 17-year-old female are facing a series of fraud charges over an alleged scheme to obtain fraudulent refunds, Winnipeg police said this morning.
Between Jan. 1, 2006 and March 13, 2008, a number of fraudulent refunds were issued to individuals participating in a rehashing scheme, police said. The refunds were credited to store merchant cards and later converted to cash or funds being deposited to a bank account.
Winnipeg police said a merchant card is issued to the individual who is returning merchandise with no receipt. The individual accumulates a number of merchant cards, returns to the store and makes a legitimate purchase, using their debit card for part of the purchase.
The item is later returned and a refund for the full amount of the purchase is applied to the individual’s debit card, thus converting the stolen merchandise into cash.
Const. Blair Good said that the Winnipeg Police Service Commercial Crime Unit entered into an investigation in 2006 after receiving a complaint from an office supply store in Winnipeg. The investigation revealed that numerous other businesses were also victimized, allegedly by the same individuals in the same fashion over the time period.
A variety of retail stores including home décor and furniture stores, electronics stores, a drug store, a clothing store and a vehicle part store located throughout Winnipeg were defrauded to a total of nearly $55,000, Good said.
Investigators also learned that despite the majority of the offences occurring in Winnipeg, a number of the offences also occurred at stores from the same franchise in Saskatchewan and Alberta.
The investigation resulted in three arrests March 13.
A 51-year-old man is facing four charges of fraud over $5,000, six counts of fraud under $5,000, conspiracy to commit indictable offence, and laundering proceeds of crime.
A 41-year-old woman and 17-year-old female face four counts each of fraud over $5,000, and six counts apiece of fraud under $5,000.
All three were released on a promise to appear.
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