The debit card scam involves retailers in the Canadian province. In this news story, the store owners appear to have been unwitting participants in the checking account scam. The thieves installed five PIN pads in stores throughout Victoria and managed to steal money from at least 268 checking accounts in just one week.

In this debit card scam, the criminals enter stores and while someone distracts the clerk, another one removes the store’s PIN pad and replaces it with their own. The PIN pad looks just like the real thing. Because it is- the crooks modified a real PIN pad in order to quickly gather financial information about customers who swipe their cards. Then, the scammers take the information and transfer it to phony checking account debit cards and immediately start draining money from the accounts.

The Victoria police believe that the crooks behind the debit card scam are part of a larger Eastern European gang and suspect that more fake PIN pads will be found in stores as they continue their investigation. In the meantime, how can we all stay safe from checking account scams? Stay tuned for some advice from the Victoria police on avoiding debit card scams in tomorrow’s blog.