Counterfeit Money – Forged Identity Arrest

On January 3rd, 2006, a male attended an electronics store in the 800 block of St. James Street and made a significant purchase of electronic equipment by using stolen and altered identification to obtain credit.

The male then attended to a cellular phone provider store and conducted a number of transactions by using forged identification and counterfeit money.

On January 4th, 2006, twenty-nine year old Brendan BAIN was arrested by members of the Winnipeg Police Commercial Crime Unit and charged with Possession of Property Obtained by Crime X 2, Personation with Intent to Obtain Property, Uttering Counterfeit Money and Fraud. BAIN was detained at the Winnipeg Remand Centre.

A twenty-eight year old female was also arrested in connection with this investigation and charged with Personation, Fraud Under $5000.00, Possess Credit Card Data, Possess Goods Obtained by Crime X 11 and Possess Proceeds of Crime. The female was released on a Promise to Appear.

Public Advisory – Counterfeit Money and Identity Theft

As a result of the recent counterfeit money/forged identity arrest, the Winnipeg Police Service would like to advise the public of an increase in the number of counterfeit $50.00 and $100.00 bills over the last three months and remind them that they are under no obligation to accept notes they believe are counterfeit. We are also encouraging the public who are in possession of legitimate older series notes to attend to their banking institution and exchange them for newer series notes.

The accused persons involved in this recent arrest obtained personal information on numerous individuals by rummaging through people's trash and recycling. This information was then used to produce forged identification to obtain credit fraudulently.

The Winnipeg Police Service would like to remind the public and businesses to carefully discard, possibly by shredding, anything that might contain personal information which could be used to compromise one's identity.

Click here for more information on Identity Theft.