Crime
Priority Crimes Task Force Charges Four After Counterfeit Credit Card Search Warrant
A man and a woman face a total of 84 criminal charges related to stolen and counterfeit credit cards after a Priority Crimes Task Force investigation that began in early March and culminated in a search warrant at a Sylvan Lake residence where RCMP seized credit card counterfeiting items and stolen credit cards. The investigation and search warrant were executed collaboratively by Red Deer and Sylvan Lake RCMP.Shortly before 9:30 am on March 16, RCMP executed the search warrant at a residence on Sylvan Drive and took four people into custody without incident. During the search, RCMP seized a number of stolen credit cards, cheques, identity documents, what is believed to be methamphetamine, and a shotgun. With regard to the counterfeit investigation, RCMP seized numerous electronics and items consistent with counterfeit and forgery activities, including a credit card embossing machine and a card printer.RCMP then spent many more hours investigating the origin of the items seized to determine which were stolen and which may be forgeries in order to lay the appropriate charges. A number of the credit cards and identity documents had been stolen after they were left in vehicles that were subsequently broken into, in central Alberta and beyond.42 year old James Johnstone Jardine was wanted on six outstanding warrants for fraud under $5,000 at the time of his arrest and now faces 43 further charges:· Criminal Code 342.01 – Possession of instrument used for forging credit cards X 3· Criminal Code 342(1)(b) – Forgery of credit card· Criminal Code 366(1)(a) – Forgery X 7· Criminal Code 91(1) – Unauthorized possession of a firearm· Criminal Code 86(1) – Careless use of a firearm· Criminal Code 355(b) – Possession of stolen property under $5,000 X 28· Criminal Code 733.1(1) – Fail to comply with probation X 2Jardine is scheduled to appear in court in Red Deer on September 18 at 9:30 am.46 year old Rachel Jean Meyerink was wanted on an outstanding warrant at the time of her arrest and faces the following 41 additional charges:· Criminal Code 342.01 – Possession of instrument used for forging credit cards X 3· Criminal Code 342(1)(b) – Forgery of credit card· Criminal Code 366(1)(a) – Forgery X 7· Criminal Code 91(1) – Unauthorized possession of a firearm· Criminal Code 86(1) – Careless use of a firearm· Criminal Code 355(b) – Possession of stolen property under $5,000 X 28Meyerink is scheduled to appear in court in Red Deer on September 18 at 9:30 am.44 year old Chance Tosh Murananka faces the following charges:· CDSA 4(1) – Possession of Schedule I substance (methamphetamine)· Criminal Code 145(3) – Fail to comply with conditionsChance Muranka is scheduled to appear in court in Red Deer on August 1 at 9:30 am.41 year old Travis Jeremy Murananka has already appeared in court and been sentenced on the following charges:· Criminal Code 355(b) – Possession of stolen property under $5,000· Criminal Code 145(3) – Fail to comply with conditions
Crime
Red Deer RCMP warn public regarding circulation of counterfeit currency
News release from Red Deer RCMP
Red Deer RCMP are alerting the public to look out for counterfeit currency.
Red Deer RCMP have received multiple reports of transactions where $50 and $100 counterfeit bills were used or attempted to be used. Anyone in the area who handles currency are alerted to be on the lookout for suspicious bills and should they come into contact with it, report it to police.
The Bank of Canada has the following advice for dealing with counterfeit currency:
- Politely refuse the note and explain that you suspect that it may be counterfeit.
- Ask for another note (and check it too).
- Advise the person to check the note with the local police.
- Inform your local police of a possible attempt to pass suspected counterfeit money.
- Be courteous. Remember that the person in possession of the bill could be an innocent victim who does not realize that the note is suspicious.
If you think you have come across counterfeit currency please contact Red Deer RCMP at 403-406-2200. If you wish to remain anonymous, you can contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), online at www.P3Tips.com or by using the “P3 Tips” app available through the Apple App or Google Play Store. To report crime online, or for access to RCMP news and information, download the Alberta RCMP app through Apple or Google Play.
Business
DOJ charges 7 Chinese spies with targeting US political leaders, major businesses
From LifeSiteNews
By Matt Lamb
The hackers ‘spent approximately 14 years targeting U.S. and foreign critics, businesses, and political officials’ as part of a massive Chinese espionage operation, according to the DOJ.
Hackers targeted defense contractors, American political leaders, and U.S. companies with malware as part of a surveillance operation for the Chinese Communist Party, the Department of Justice (DOJ) alleges.
The DOJ released details on the indictment of seven Chinese individuals who have been charged with “conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and conspiracy to commit wire fraud,” according to a Monday news release.
The individuals are part of a People’s Republic of China (PRC) group who “spent approximately 14 years targeting U.S. and foreign critics, businesses, and political officials in furtherance of the PRC’s economic espionage and foreign intelligence objectives,” according to the DOJ.
Officials unsealed the indictment on Monday, though charges were originally filed in January.
The indictment provides further insight into how the CCP targets American companies and political leaders for retribution and influence using computer viruses.
The CCP and its Ministry of State Security “sought to obtain information on political, economic and security policies that might affect the PRC, along with military, scientific and technical information of value to the PRC,” the indictment states. “Among other things, the MSS and its state security departments focused on surreptitiously identifying and influencing the foreign policy of other countries, including the United States.”
The hackers used a front company called Wuhan XRZ beginning in at least 2010. They would send fake emails to U.S. senators, business leaders, and information technology companies looking to gain access. They were successful in hacking defense contractors, information technology providers, and universities, among other victims.
The DOJ itself was targeted, along the Commerce Department, the Treasury Department, and the White House.
The Justice Department alleges:
These computer network intrusion activities resulted in the confirmed and potential compromise of work and personal email accounts, cloud storage accounts and telephone call records belonging to millions of Americans, including at least some information that could be released in support of malign influence targeting democratic processes and institutions, and economic plans, intellectual property, and trade secrets belonging to American businesses, and contributed to the estimated billions of dollars lost every year as a result of the PRC’s state-sponsored apparatus to transfer U.S. technology to the PRC.
The “Conspirators,” as they are called in the filing, began sending out phishing emails in at least 2015, according to the DOJ. The emails would look like they were from “prominent American journalists” with excerpts from news sites.
“If the recipient activated the tracking link by opening the email, information about the recipient, including the recipient’s location, IP addresses, network schematics and specific devices used to access the pertinent email accounts, was transmitted to a server controlled by the Conspirators,” the DOJ stated. “The Conspirators used this method to enable more direct and sophisticated targeting of recipients’ home routers and other electronic devices, including those of high ranking U.S. government officials and politicians and election campaign staff from both major U.S. political parties.”
In just a few months in 2018, the hackers “sent more than 10,000 malicious email messages” to “high-ranking U.S. government officials and their advisors, including officials involved in international policy and foreign trade issues.”
They also targeted campaign staff for “a presidential campaign” in 2020. The filing does not state which campaign.
European Union and United Kingdom leaders who were part of the anti-Communist Inter Parliamentary Alliance on China were also targeted.
Other victims included: “a nuclear power engineering company,” a defense contractor, an aerospace contractor, and “a leading American manufacturer of software and computer services based in California.”
Telecommunications companies, law firms, and steel companies were also targeted.
The CCP impersonated real steel companies in order to gain access to their emails during a battle over tariffs on China. After the Trump administration announced new steel tariffs in 2018, the hackers “registered a malicious domain impersonating the legitimate domain of one of the largest steel producers in the United States (the ‘American Steel Company’)” as well as the International Steel Trade Forum.
“These malicious domains allowed the Conspirators to communicate with malware they installed on the network of the American Steel Company to access and surveil the victim,” the DOJ stated.
They also targeted the Norwegian government in 2018 because it was considering awarding the Nobel Prize to Hong Kong democracy activists.
The PRC is a “malicious nation state,” a federal prosecutor stated in the DOJ news release.
“These allegations pull back the curtain on China’s vast illegal hacking operation that targeted sensitive data from U.S. elected and government officials, journalists, and academics; valuable information from American companies; and political dissidents in America and abroad. Their sinister scheme victimized thousands of people and entities across the world, and lasted for well over a decade,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York stated in the news release.
“America’s sovereignty extends to its cyberspace. Today’s charges demonstrate my office’s commitment to upholding and protecting that jurisdiction, and to putting an end to malicious nation state cyber activity.”
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