Transit Police have arrested two Ontario men in Surrey suspected of being involved in a "fake taxi" credit card and debit card scam.
Constable Amanda Steed said "unsuspecting Good Samaritans" were targeted at universities and shopping centres across the Lower Mainland.
Scammers pose as a passenger inside a cab who cannot pay the fare.
"They then ask citizens for assistance covering the amount,' she explained. "When the victims agree to help and hand over their debit or credit cards to pay the stranger's fare, their credit cards are covertly swapped out by the vehicle's occupants. In some cases, fraudulent purchases and withdrawals are then made on the victims' real cards."
Steed said officers from the Transit Police Crime Suppression Team recently spotted a black Hundia Elantra near Surrey Central SkyTrain Station that was suspected to be involved in this sort of thing. Steed said police observed a passenger get out of the vehicle, put a yellow "taxi" sign on its roof then get back in before it drove off toward SFU's Surrey campus.
"When officers attempted to stop the vehicle, the driver of the Hyundai rammed an unmarked Transit Police vehicle," Steed said. Assisted by officers from the Surrey Police Service and the gang enforcement team, the Transit cops arrested the driver and passenger and seized 29 debit cards and credit cards, a debit card payment machine and a magnetic taxi sign from the auto.
Both were released pending approval of charges.
