A two-year-long investigation is coming to a close, finding a dozen victims of financial crimes.

Police say they believe a man was significantly overcharging some customers and charging others multiple times for their services.

Constable Dani McKinnon says 23 credit cards were used a total of 91 unauthorized times, amounting to $865,000.

"Between the same time frame, July 2, 2018, and October 10, 2019, approximately $1 million, some of which was fraudulently obtained and some legitimate, was transferred between various bank accounts as a method of laundering this money," the constable says in a press conference.  

In 2019, a mobile payment processing company alerted the Winnipeg Police Service's Financial Crimes Unit of a troubling trend. The company says dating back to 2018, they believe a company was processing unauthorized credit card data.

Between May 2019 and February 2021, the unit poured over documents, showing an "interact series of fraud and money laundering offences" by the company. The police found evidence of the company overcharging customers, including a local non-profit organization, a travel agency, and independent customers.

In January, the company's 36-year-old owner was charged with 14 fraud and money laundering-related offences, and is released on an appearance notice. 

Constable Bill Lodge says financial crimes are not uncommon but notes that this was a high amount obtained.

"The unfortunate thing as investigators when it comes it fraud is we don't often come to find out about these things until after the fact, which can be weeks, months, years later," Lodge says.

He says there are a lot of techniques fraudsters use to manipulate people, making each instance unique.

"Winnipeg is not a huge city, but it happens more than the public would probably realize happens... it does not happen every day, but it does happen quite often."

Lodge says most financial institutions offer customers credit monitoring and suggests people use them to avoid being manipulated.

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