Wood Buffalo RCMP are seeking two people accused of taking part in a months-long fraud investigation after a Fort McMurray resident lost an estimated $120,000. Police said the investigation also identified fraud victims in St. Albert and Calgary, and arrest warrants have been issued for two suspects who have not yet been located.

The case began in March 2026, when the resident reported that their bank account had been compromised. RCMP opened an investigation and described it as serious and lengthy. Police have asked anyone with information about where either suspect may be to contact them.

The suspects are a 22-year-old Calgary resident identified by the sole name Divianshu and 63-year-old Pasquale Zanella of Ile Bizard, Québec. They face multiple charges related to credit card fraud, identity theft and money laundering. The source did not specify the number of charges or provide further details about the alleged offences.

On the same day the warrants were publicized, the Wood Buffalo detachment announced the official launch of its local Financial Crime Unit. Police said the unit is intended to help stop what they called an “underworld of local financial scams.”

The unit follows a pilot project that RCMP began testing in April 2026. Cpl. Natasha Lytwenko of Wood Buffalo RCMP told Postmedia Network that the pilot was prompted by an “increase in financial crimes” in the region. She said money laundering schemes had become more prevalent locally.

RCMP said that in the six months before the announcement, more than 80 criminal charges specifically related to illegal money laundering schemes had been laid in the Fort McMurray region. Police said losses to victims in local cases have reached millions of dollars, citing a $500,000 travel agency scam, an $800,000 fraud that shut down the Fort McMurray Heritage Village, and a $160,000 scam led by a youth basketball coach.

According to the police statement, some local crimes have links to larger “national and international criminal networks.” Inspector Mike Robinson, Wood Buffalo’s Investigative Services Officer, said the new unit is “executing an average of 2.5 judicial authorizations every week to follow the money.”

Robinson said the team works with investigative partners across the country, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) and Canadian financial institutions. He said this collaboration is intended “to be increasingly able to identify and disrupt the financial networks that enable criminal activity.”

“In Wood Buffalo, this work is well underway, and its impact is only beginning to be felt,” Robinson said. Financial Crime Unit Commander Staff Sergeant Ryan Adlam said: “those looking at Fort McMurray with fraudulent intentions should understand that the RCMP is watching, investigating and taking action.”

Based on reporting by Edmonton Journal.