On May 10, 2017 officers received a complaint regarding personal financial information that had allegedly been stolen and fraudulently used to make purchases. The information had reportedly been stolen following the complainant’s attempt to make a purchase on a website called Fazny (http://www.fazny.ca).
While completing a purchase at Fazny, the complainant received repeated errors indicating that the payment could not be processed. A short time later, suspicious purchases appeared on financial statements and the complainant reported the matter to police.
Following a complex investigation, the EPS Cyber Crimes Investigation Unit determined the complainant’s information had been stolen at fazny.ca. The website, which attracted consumers using Facebook ads, was reportedly selling computer accessories using images and product descriptions copied from other legitimate online retailers.
Pursuant to a court order, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), the organization that manages the .CA domain on behalf of Canadians, facilitated officers seizing the domain and redirecting it to a police controlled server, effectively taking the fraudulent website offline.
“Seizing the domain serves two purposes; to identify further victims and to prevent further fraud,” says Const. Phil Hawkins of the Cyber Crimes Investigation Unit. “We believe others may also have been defrauded by this website and want to encourage them to report the incident(s) to their local law enforcement agency.”
Photos of the website are below. Officers continue to investigate.
Anyone who has information about this crime is asked to contact the EPS at 780-423-4567or #377 from a mobile phone. Anonymous information can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at www.tipsubmit.com/start.htm.