Victoria, BC- VicPD’s Crime Reduction Unit are currently investigating several frauds that are thought to have cost several businesses over $50,000 in combined, total losses.
The transactions are conducted through the manual entry of stolen or fraudulent credit card numbers into a merchant’s point of sale (POS) terminal.
As investigators work to locate the person or persons responsible, officers are asking local businesses to monitor customers’ use of their POS terminals. Businesses should ensure that customers are using the POS terminals to enter the personal identification number or that customers are utilizing the ‘tap’ feature and that customers are not accessing administrative menus or manually entering credit card numbers. If somebody does enter a card manually, it will reflect the card entry method on the receipt as ‘manual’.
If you find somebody trying to utilize this method, manually entering credit card numbers through POS terminals, please cancel the transaction and call VicPD at 250-995-7654 or your local police agency. If you know who is responsible for these frauds, you can call us, or, to report what you know anonymously, please call Greater Victoria Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
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