If you bank with CIBC, check your debit and credit card statements: You might be a victim of card skimming.
Police arrested an Ontario man at the Via Rail train station Wednesday and seized devices allegedly used to skim credit and debit cards at CIBC ATMs in Halifax. About $25,000 in cash was also seized.
Det. Const. Dana Drover told reporters yesterday the accused, 22-year-old Volodymyr Zozulya, allegedly fixed ATMs and filmed customers entering their PIN numbers. From there, Zozulya allegedly created clones on gift cards and took out money from ATMs around Halifax.
“There are three to four incidents a year (like this) that come to our attention,” Drover said. “It’s a wide-spread problem, unfortunately.”
Police don’t know how many victims there are or how much was allegedly stolen.
“If you see any unusual transactions on your monthly statements or if you do online banking, notify your credit card provider or your financial institution,” Drover said.
“It may be a couple hundred dollars on average.”
A woman with Zozulya was arrested, but later released. Zozulya faces a number of charges including fraud over $5,000 and forging credit cards.
“Right now we’re expanding our investigation outside Nova Scotia. As far as we know, we’re looking at Ontario, Quebec and points west,” Drover said.
Precautions
Det. Const. Dana Drover recommends people change their PIN numbers regularly and cover their fingers when they enter their number in a machine.
