An increasing number of counterfeit Metropasses and tokens are delivering a big financial blow to Toronto’s public transit agency.
Fake Metropasses and tokens cost the TTC almost $2 million last year, as more fraudsters figure out how to circumvent the security features and cheat the system, said TTC spokesman Brad Ross.
In 2012, almost 70 people were arrested for bogus fares and there were 615 reports of fake Metropasses, Ross confirmed to CP24.
Reports of fraud slowed after the TTC introduced tokens with a bimetal design in 2006 and Metropasses with a hologram in 2009, but incidents have gradually increased as people learn how to defeat the security measures and more fakes are sold on the black market.
TTC officials are hoping fraud takes a hit when the Presto card is rolled out across the system by 2016. The card’s chip technology is as secure as a debit or credit card, according to Presto.
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