EDMONTON -- Police are warning Edmonton businesses about a scam involving stolen credit cards that has defrauded several local companies of more than $60,000.

According to the Edmonton Police Service, four companies have reported fraud since July.

The companies were contacted by an individual for a large order of medical supplies, including gloves, masks and sanitizer. A credit card or electronic transfer was offered as payment and the company shipped the orders before the payment was confirmed.

All of the orders were shipped to eastern Canada. Police believe the supplies are being resold online.

“From everything we’ve been able to gather, it doesn’t appear that any of the fraudsters are located in Edmonton, or even in the greater Alberta area, and most of the information that is tracked back is going to eastern Canada, mostly centred in Toronto and areas surrounding Montreal,” said Const. Brian Mason.

It’s possible the crimes could even have an impact on fighting the pandemic locally.

“In a lot of cases, these medical supply companies are supplying local doctors and local hospitals with needed items such as sterile gloves, medical masks, sanitizers, things of that nature, the products end up going to other areas for people to sell out through fraudulent means,” Mason said.

“In speaking with some of these companies, they’ve said that their abilities to supply some of these much needed items, especially dealing with the pandemic, could be limited because of that.”

Police said it’s possible that some of the crimes could be related.

“We have been able to link a few of the files together just through similar information that some of the suspects have shared, whether it be names, IP addresses, things like that. So we can identify that those files definitely do have a suspect in common,” said Mason.

Two other companies recognized the fraud before the items were shipped.

Police recommend being vigilant about remote transactions and confirming payment before shipping any merchandise.

Businesses that believe they may have been victims of a similar scam are being asked to report it to police.