Fake fuel cards allegedly used to fill trucks with more than $2,500 worth of fuel in Mississauga

A Peel Regional Police logo is shown on the side of a police vehicle in Brampton, Ont. on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

Two men are facing charges in connection with separate fraud investigations, where each suspect allegedly used fake gas cards to bill hundreds of dollars worth of fuel to victim trucking companies to gas up the tanks of truck drivers in Mississauga.

The accused allegedly obtained payment information from trucking companies that were legitimately buying fuel using corporate fleet cards.

Police said these cards were allegedly cloned and used to provide cheaper fuel to independent drivers. The drivers would then allegedly pay the suspect directly while the charges would instead be billed to the victim trucking companies.

The first incident occurred on April 1, at around 4:30 p.m., at a gas station in the area of Dixie Road and Britannia Road East.

Peel Regional Police said an employee noticed a man allegedly handing out fraudulent fuel cards to truck drivers.

One dump truck driver allegedly used one of the cards to get more than $330 worth of diesel fuel before returning the card back to the suspect.

Police said they arrested Praven Wijayanantham, 27, of Toronto, who has been charged with two offences, including possession/trafficking of credit card data.

Investigators said they seized various fuel cards, several cellphones, a laptop and a card scanning device.

The second incident, which occurred separately, happened on the afternoon of April 9 at a gas station near Atlantic Drive and Britannia Road East.

In this case, police said a suspect was witnessed using fraudulent fuel cards to gas up four trucks, for a combined total of more than $2,233 worth of fuel.

Responding officers arrested Thanisan Thanabalasingam, 28, of Brampton, and charged him with two offences, including fraud.

Peel police said they seized two fraudulent fuel cards, an unauthorized credit card and two cellphones.

Both investigations remain ongoing.

Investigators are asking anyone with additional information to contact Peel Regional Police’s Fraud Bureau or Crime Stoppers anonymously.