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Red Deer RCMP arrest six in stolen vehicle operation

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Red Deer, Alberta – Red Deer RCMP arrested six people, executed outstanding warrants involving 42 Criminal Code charges and laid eight new charges on three people in a four-day covert stolen vehicle operation at the beginning of the month that recovered eight stolen vehicles.

The covert operation took place from February 28 through March 3 in Red Deer and involved police officers from the Red Deer RCMP Crime Reduction Team (CRT), GIS and general duty, the RCMP Emergency Response Team (ERT), and Police Dog Services. Covert strategies were used to avoid the public safety risks created by criminals driving dangerously or ramming police vehicles in their efforts to avoid arrest.

“This is the second covert stolen vehicle operation we’ve done in Red Deer, and we’re pleased with the success of it, and with the ongoing message we’re sending to habitual offenders,” says Inspector Gerald Grobmeier of the Red Deer RCMP. “Red Deer RCMP are using a variety of crime reduction strategies to target vehicle thefts and property crime and the handful of repeat offenders who are responsible for most of it.”

 Arrests and charges during the operation include:

·         2018268936: 29 year old Ryan Shane Schuster was arrested on numerous outstanding warrants involving 35 charges, including multiple charges for use of a stolen credit card, break and enter, theft of vehicle, a number of fraud charges, and multiple charges for failing to comply with conditions and breaching his probation. Schuster now faces three new charges of failing to comply with probation after RCMP located him in a vehicle not his own, in violation of his probation. Schuster was arrested after attempting to flee police on foot and is scheduled to appear in court on March 19 at 9:30 am.

·         2018268278: 35 year old Trevor Ryan Unrau was arrested when the Crime Reduction Team located him in a high crime area in a stolen van. He faces charges of possession of stolen property over $5,000, failing to comply with conditions and resisting/ obstructing a peace officer and is scheduled to appear in court on March 21 at 9:30 am. The van had been reported stolen out of Red Deer after it was left running and unlocked.

·         2018272998: 48 year old Kevin John Brown was arrested in a parked stolen truck and is charged with possession of stolen property over $5,000 and failing to comply with conditions. He is scheduled to appear in court on March 21 at 9:30 am.

·         20171080075: 19 year old Chaz Nicholas Kujula was arrested on outstanding warrants for break and enter, theft and failing to comply with conditions; he was remanded to appear in court on March 5 and is scheduled to appear again on March 16 at 9:30 am.

·         20171138001: 44 year old Natalie Angela Dufault was arrested on outstanding warrants for theft and break and enter with regard to an August file out of the Bashaw area; she is scheduled to appear in court in Stettler on April 26 at 10 am.

Read more stories about regional crime news on Todayville.com.

President Todayville Inc., Honorary Colonel 41 Signal Regiment, Board Member Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Award Foundation, Director Canadian Forces Liaison Council (Alberta) musician, photographer, former VP/GM CTV Edmonton.

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Crime

Red Deer RCMP warn public regarding circulation of counterfeit currency

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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.

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Business

DOJ charges 7 Chinese spies with targeting US political leaders, major businesses

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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.

“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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