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Sections & Units
Our Mission:
"To optimize public safety
in the City of Calgary"
Organized Crime Section
Commercial Crime Unit
The Commercial Crime Unit consists of 15 Commercial Crime detectives, 2 IPOC (Integrated Proceeds of Crime) detectives, 10 Fraud Detail constables, a secretary, an analyst and a staff sergeant in charge of the unit.
The unit investigates and coordinates investigations of:
- Economic or "white collar" crime
- Computer-related fraud
- Internet fraud
- Regulations and control of business
- Environmental offences
- Proceeds of crime cases
- Credit card, debit card and cheque fraud
- Counterfeit money
- Other fraud offences
The unit is divided into three central components - Commercial Crime, Fraud and Arson.
Commercial Crime detectives focus on white collar crime
 These detectives investigate significant economic or "white collar" crime. The offences investigated are complex, often requiring the auditing of financial, business or personnel records. The complexity of many of these cases often results in the need for a forensic audit by an accounting firm to completely unravel the intricacies of the deception. The losses attributed to these types of fraud cases can reach multi-million dollar levels. It is not unusual for these investigations to take years to complete.
Commercial Crime detectives also specialize in the investigation of environmental crimes, proceeds of crime investigations, counterfeit money, and organized financial crime. They work closely with various government agencies to investigate environmental offences and with the Federal Treasury on counterfeiting cases.
The Commercial Crime Unit has a Payment Card Offences portfolio dedicated to credit and debit card skimming offences. The unit's IPOC investigators work together with RCMP investigators and are responsible for investigating offences concerning proceeds of crime
Fraud of various types investigated
Fraud investigators examine reports of fraud, false pretences, forgeries (cheque fraud), bank machine offences, credit/ debit card fraud and internet-related fraud.
A good example of this type of fraud is credit and debit card skimmers. A fraud artist posing as a store clerk, for example, will take your debit or credit card and move it below the counter or out of your sight. They will then pass it through a "skimmer" - a small unit that quickly captures the data on the card's magnetic stripe - and return the card to you. A counterfeit card can be produced without your knowledge and is used to rack up fraudulent charges on your account.
Keep PIN secret to avoid fraud
With debit cards, the criminal must know your PIN before the skimmer will be of any value. If possible, debit cards should be kept within sight of the cardholder and under no circumstances should you reveal your PIN to anyone. Also, ensure you cover your hand when entering your PIN.
Debit/Credit card offences are on the rise and account for more than $300 million in crime annually in Canada.
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