Police have now laid charges against a man and a woman in connection with a lottery scam which targeted victims through Canada Post.

On March 20, police executed a search warrant at a home in the 0-100 block of Glamis Drive S.W. as part of an ongoing investigation.

Police say that when units arrived at the scene, the two suspects attempted to flee by jumping from a second-floor balcony. They were arrested following a short foot pursuit.

A subsequent investigation uncovered credit card data, mail affixed with counterfeit postage, mailing lists, computers, and documents allegedly used to create fraudulent letters to ‘lottery winners’.

They say that during the course of the crime, victims would be mailed letters indicating that they had won the lottery but were required to deposit large sums of money into a certain account in order to claim the winnings.

With the help of Canada Post, police were able to recover 5,000 pieces of mail with the same counterfeit postage linked to the crime. The letters were addressed to people in Canada and the U.S.

Albert Egbe Onolunose, 34, is charged with:

  • Five counts of possession of credit card data
  • Fraud over $5,000
  • Using mail to defraud
  • Counterfeiting stamps

Abeba Girma, 25, has been charged with one count of identity theft.

Onolunose is expected to appear in court on June 12 while Girma will appear on June 23.

Kristi Verhoul, with the CPS Economic Crimes Unit, says that during the course of their investigation, they found that a number of victims had already been caught in the scam, transferring money to several different fraudulent bank accounts.

"We're trying to determine the number of victims as a majority of them are actually across the border in the U.S.," she told a media briefing on Wednesday morning.

Verhoul says the victims were picked at random and they are still looking into how the suspects gained access to the information they had collected. "There were over 5,000 letters that were addressed, plus, under our search warrant, we were able to find master lists of even more names."

She says that consumers always need to be wary about how they approach letters like this. "I would suggest in a situation like this, I would say if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Unless you buy a ticket, in our experience, there is no legitimate lottery that would request you to pay prior to receiving your winnings."

Verhoul also says that if you receive any suspicious mail, you're encouraged to contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and the Calgary Police Service.