Police are advising the public of an ongoing investigation into a debit card scam targeting taxi customers.
Toronto police say they have received multiple reports from people who allege that a taxi driver switched their debit card while passing the terminal machine during a payment.
It’s alleged that the suspected drivers will switch the passenger’s debit card with a different card from the same bank, leaving the driver in possession of their legitimate card and PIN number.
Investigators are warning the public that the incidents often happen at night in low light, as it “provides ample opportunity to manipulate cards out of the passenger’s sight.”
Toronto Police Det. Michael Rogers says all of the reported swaps have occurred in a cab that was flagged from the street rather than preordered.
“Because taxis are by and large safe, I think people are generally relaxed. They’re not paying attention to necessarily which cab companies they're using,” Rogers told CP24 on Friday. “In the daytime, I think people pay attention to the graphic on the outside and they’ll remember which cab company their using whereas at night, they’re just looking for the lit bubble on the roof.”
The incidents in question are not specific to any one taxi company in the city, Rogers said.
“It would absolutely not be fair to say it’s one company,” he said. “Thousands of Torontonians use taxis safely in Toronto every day and the taxi companies we’ve been speaking to have been very cooperative. Right now it would only be safe to say that it’s somebody with access to a taxi or more than one taxi.”
Anyone with information about the investigation is being asked to call police or Crime Stoppers.
