York police are warning residents about an ongoing taxi fare scam in the region.
This scam, police say, involves two fraudsters- one posing as a taxi driver and the other as a passenger.
The fake passenger approaches a victim and asks for their help, saying that the taxi driver won’t accept their cash due to COVID-19.
The passenger offers the victim cash in exchange for paying their taxi fare by using their debit card.
If the victim agrees to help they must insert their debit card into a point of sale machine that has been modified by the suspects, police say.
“When the victim enters their PIN number, the data is captured on the terminal and when the victim is not looking, their card is taken by the suspects,” police said in a press release on Thursday.
“They are handed back another card that looks similar to their own and generally do not discover until later on that their card was taken.”
Police added that the cards handed back to the victims are usually previously stolen cards that the suspects had already used to steal money from bank accounts.
Investigators say that the majority of these scams have been occurring in shopping areas and in the parking lots of stores in Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Markham.
“York Regional Police is reminding citizens to be cautious of anyone asking for money in parking lots. You can help protect yourself by never handing over your credit or debit card for payment,” police said.
Anyone who has been a victim of a fraud and lost money is encouraged to report the incident to police online or by calling 1-866-876-5423, ext. 6627. To report frauds where no money has been lost, contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre online or by calling 1-888-495-8501.
