Photos of debit card fraud suspects released

RCMP have released photos of two suspects and a person of interest in relation to the recent rash of debit card frauds in Moncton.

The Codiac RCMP is investigating at least 36 cases of unauthorized transactions in the past week, some totalling thousands of dollars.

Early Feb. 16,  three men entered a gas station convenience store on Champlain Street in Dieppe, Const. Damien Thériault stated in a news release.

One of the point-of-sale terminals at the counter was removed and replaced, so the suspects could obtain banking information from all cards swiped on that terminal, he said.

The terminal was removed by the service provider on March 5.

Meanwhile, a terminal at a restaurant on Mountain Road in Moncton may also have been tampered with, but police are unsure when that incident took place and whether the two incidents are related, said Thériault.

The investigation so far has shown that the information stolen from the cards was used in a foreign country to obtain funds fraudulently.

Checking statements

Paul Ward says he became suspicious after checking his accounts online.

"It started with a $15.76 charge and a $3 Interac charge," which came from Malaysia, he said.

That was followed by $600 in other charges over two days.

Ward's Caisse populaire reimbursed him and contacted the RCMP.

"They told me that just that day they were up at 80 cases, just with the Caisse populaire," said Ward.

He believes his debit card was cloned at a gas station while his wife swiped it through the debit machine.

Ward said he's surprised at how easy it was for people to get into his account.

"I did feel a bit cheated by the system, thinking that something like that was secure and somehow you can be a victim."

He said he's now checking his statements a lot more closely.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police or Crime Stoppers.