Port Moody Police have busted a Surrey identity theft ring that victimized a Port Coquitlam woman and dozens of others.
Last Friday, PMPD’s Community Action Team swept into a home to execute a search warrant and found about 80 pieces of ID — real and fake — as well as credit cards, laptop computers and 20 flash drives.
Sgt. Bradley Sheridan, who heads the team, said there were a number of people in the home as well as one person who tried to hide under a set of stairs beneath a pile of household items but was eventually found.
This is the second identity ring bust that PMPD have made in Surrey in recent weeks. In the previous arrest, a woman who left her purse in her car on St. Johns Street in PoMo was also victimized. Charges were later laid against a Surrey woman.
Friday’s identity ring bust followed a five month-investigation that began when a PoCo woman left her purse in her car while visiting White Pine Beach at Sasamat Lake. Sheridan said a suspect broke a window, stole the purse and later started using the credit cards — even buying cellphones and opening a bank account using the ID.
Eventually, officers tracked the theft to a Surrey home, where a woman with outstanding warrants and a driving prohibition was arrested. A vehicle with stolen licence plates related to the PoMo ID theft was also found.
Police subsequently obtained a search warrant for a second Surrey home, where laptops, thumb drives, personal ID, including driver’s licences, Care Cards, social insurance numbers, passports and credit cards, was found.
“Our victim’s ID was used in a manner that drew attention to this [first] residence in Surrey so then we went there and one thing led to another,” Sheridan said.
Charges have not yet been approved and Sheridan said police are continuing their investigation.
But the revelation of a second large identity ring theft in recent weeks has police once again reminding people to not leave their purses and wallets in cars.
As well, Sheridan said people should stay up to date with their credit and banking transactions so they can spot something untoward quickly. Not knowing your finances can hamper the investigation, Sheridan said.
“Our warning is twofold: Please make sure you don’t leave anything in your car at any time. And it’s really important that people keep a good understanding of their finances and their credit cards,” Sheridan told The Tri-City News.
“The sooner you become aware of it the sooner you can deal with it and we can deal with it as well."
The theft has had a devastating affect on the victim, who submitted a victim impact statement to the police this week.
“She’s understandably upset by the intrusion and the difficulties that come with these problems,” Sheridan said, explaining that the value of personal ID such as driver’s licenses and passports is that they are tied to information, such as a birth date, that doesn’t change and thus can be used over and over for illegal acts.
“They have significant value when you’re committing frauds,” he said.
As to why PMPD conducted the search in Surrey and not that city’s RCMP, Sheridan said police have jurisdiction under the Police Act to follow up on local thefts, even if they occur in another city.
He warned that people should realize that thieves come from all over the Lower Mainland to places like beaches, parks and shopping areas looking for purses left in cars so they can commit fraud. It’s a serious issue and no community can protect itself from these thefts unless people make smart decisions to keep their important belongings on their person.
“As we discovered in this and our previous files, people come from other jurisdictions — from everywhere — specifically looking to steal your purse or wallet out of your car so they can commit offences,” Sheridan said.
