Wellington County OPP want to alert all businesses that deal with building materials after police received several fraud complaints throughout the province.
No incidents have been reported in the county, but the OPP has received fraud complaints from various retailers after they received a call from a Montreal-sourced group placing orders for construction material by phone using fraudulent credit card data.
Materials sought have been plywood, thermostats and other construction material. The orders for these supplies exceed $5,000 and big box stores as well as private lumber yards have fallen victim to this ploy.
Investigations are ongoing and more victims are expected to come forward as businesses are notified of the fraudulent transactions.
Police say an unknown suspect from Quebec places an order for building materials by phone. A credit card is provided as payment and a third party is then hired to pick up the order immediately.
The credit card information appears valid at first but later comes back as stolen or compromised. By then the materials have been picked up and moved – in many cases to Montreal, Quebec.
Other methods noted elsewhere in the province involve a legitimate delivery service picking up the order but transferring it to another pick up address such as a rented mailbox address location where the materials are then collected.
It is suggested that merchants be diligent and ensure the credit card information is valid, preferably only taking credit data from cards presented in person.
There have been cases where secondary identification was provided that was also later found to be fraudulent. Merchants are encouraged to contact the credit card issuers and confirm all information before processing a transaction.
Anyone with information regarding this incident should contact the OPP at 1–888–310–1122 or call Crime Stoppers at 1–800–222–8477 (TIPS) or leave an anonymous online message at crimestoppersguelphwellington.com.
