Taxi debit fraud: How it worked

After months of investigation, Montreal police have arrested two men in connection with an extensive scam to skimdebitcards.

• Montreal police arrest fake taxi drivers in $400K debit card fraud

Police say the suspectswere stealing customers'PINsand debit cards and swapping them out with near identicalcards, before draining their bank accounts.

The suspects generally followed the same pattern, according to police:

• The driver would pick up a passenger from the street.
• At some point, the driver would ask that the passenger pay by debit. When it came time to pay, the driver would insert the card into a special terminal that skimsPINs.
• While passengers weren't looking, he would pocket the real cardand hand back a different, nearly identical debit card.

Thefraudstersworked quickly, often withdrawing huge sums of money within a few hours of the card theft, before the customer noticed.

Victim HannahLazaresaid it was only the next day, when she went to her TD branch to cash a cheque, that she realized her debit card had been stolen.

"I noticed that there was some scratches on the back of the card. And I realized that the signature on the back was not mine," she said.

Lazare,a law, ethics and history student at the University of Torontohad just deposited several thousand dollars in scholarship money in her account a few days before. She recoiled when the teller told her there was just $6 left in her account.

Fromher bank statement,Lazarecould seethat thefraudstershad withdrawn $1,000 from a bank machineand then spent the rest at aCoucheTard dpanneur.

Police said the fraudsters worked quickly, often withdrawing huge sums of money within a few hours of the card theft. (CBC)

Police say the suspects also tried to press passengers for personal information, to maximize their return.

"What interested them most was their date of birth," saidMontreal Police Sgt. LaurentGingras.

The guy was very good at chatting us up...basically just distracting us and taking our mind off of anything we'd consider to be off about the whole situation.- VictimMattMacKinnon

"Because with the date of birth, at certain banks, they can withdraw more money than is usually allowed."

MattMacKinnon, a local freelance photographer,lost hundreds of dollars in the same scheme on Saturday.

"The guy was very good at chatting us up, asking where we were from and stuffbasically just distracting us and taking our mind off of anything we'd consider to be off about the whole situation," saidMacKinnon.

NeitherMacKinnonnorLazaresay they gave personal information to the driver.

Lazaresaid she was reimbursed by TD bank once the bankdetermined she had been the victim of fraud.
MacKinnon, also a TD customer, said the bank is still conducting its investigation.

Renting out taxis

Gingrassaid the suspects were renting out taxis under the table from different drivers with different companies.

It's not clear whether the drivers who lent their cars knew anything about the fraud.

"By varying the kind ofvehiclethat was used, they would not [draw]attention to themselves," saidGingras. "Different types of vehicles more difficult for the police to pinpoint."

One of the suspects appears to have had a taxi licence. The other does not even have a driver's licence.