Four people stand accused of ripping off credit and debit information from the customers of an upscale downtown spa, then using that information to fund an extravagant shopping spree and a different spa, Toronto police say.
The four are facing hundreds of charges in connection with the case.
Police alleged at a Tuesday news conference that the group of suspects tampered with a PIN-pad device at the unidentified spa, which is located in the Bay and Bloor Street area.
The employees and owners of the spa had nothing to do with the alleged incident, Staff Sgt. Niels Sondergaard said at an afternoon news conference.
Instead, the suspects likely distracted the employees while they replaced the PIN-pad device with a machine that digitally recorded clients' financial information.
The owners of the spa called police when a credit card company alerted them that their machine had likely been compromised.
The scam victimized 216 customers of the spa.
Sondergaard said police would not reveal the spa's name but confirmed that each client who had their information compromised has been contacted by authorities.
Police say the stolen information was used to create a copy of the customers' cards. The fraudulent cards went unused for about six months.
But after that time elapsed, they were used to buy goods such as designer handbags, shoes belts and coffee makers.
Those goods would then be sold on the grey market for cash, some of which went to furnish and renovate condominiums in Yorkville and to operate a new business, The Jung Spa at 257 Danforth Avenue.
"The cards were used to furnish the spa and pay for the electrical wiring, drywall, tiling -- almost everything in the store could be traced back to the stolen cards," Const. Todd Hall told reporters at the news conference.
The spa had its grand opening on Feb. 8, 2009 but was opened to the public two weeks before that. The business had a debit machine which has been seized and is being investigated, Hall said.
"The investigation is still ongoing," he said.
Police have been investigating the fraud ring for months as part of an initiative called "Project Tuna."
Early on Thursday, officers from 11 Division and 14 Division's fraud office executed six search warrants, mostly in the Yorkville neighbourhood.
Police say they seized about $285,000 worth of property, including some furniture and equipment from the Jung Spa.
Goran Sadic, 44, and his 41-year-old wife Milena Sadic, have been charged along with Filip Djukic, 38, and Julia Sung, 25. The four suspects face hundreds of fraud-related charges.
Police say further charges are pending as the investigation continues.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Austin Delaney
