News

Police avert credit-card scam at Canadian gas kiosk

June 26, 2003

NEW WESTMINSTER, Canada -- An elaborate scam that had the potential to skim $14 million from bank accounts in two days was shut down by police before it could become Canada's largest debit card fraud.

According to an article in the Vancouver Sun, the scam, based out of a gas station in Coquitlam, used a hidden camera to record clients' personal identification numbers and an electronic skimming device that intercepted clients' account information before it was sent through the phone lines to Interac, the banks' service provider.

The camera was hidden in the ceiling of the gas kiosk, directly above the keypad that customers used to punch in their PINs, the article said.

Police said the keypad was secured to the counter so customers could not move it out of the view of the camera. And while the camera recorded PINs, a complicated skimming device stole data as customers swiped their cards.