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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Police arrest Quebecers in city in alleged $1-M skimming scam

By: Gabrielle Giroday

Posted: 01/16/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

DAVID LIPNOWSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES Const. Jason Michalyshen says the young suspects accused in the skimming scam may represent one cell of a larger criminal organization.

They hit four provinces with a sophisticated skimming scam.

Now, police say, a group of young men from Quebec cost Winnipeg businesses an estimated $1 million-plus after police busted the ring here.

Police said they arrested a man and four 17-year-old boys after they replaced PIN pads with dummy machines to steal personal financial information.

The dummy machines send the stolen information wirelessly so thieves can use it. The PIN pads are next to cash registers where people make their purchases.

Officers arrested four people Monday after security guards at a local grocery store in the city's northwest caught them stealing PIN pads.

Police said they arrested another man at a nearby hotel and found a small lab where there were computers and hardware used to process stolen data. "Don't let their ages fool you. These individuals know what they're doing. They're very skilled," said WPS Const. Jason Michalyshen.

Michalyshen said the group targeted high-volume businesses, sometimes distracting merchants around closing time while other group members took the PIN pads.

After the PIN pads were altered, he said, the thieves would return the altered pad to the store.

That would give them access to customers' debit card and credit card information. The stolen data were sold to criminals, said police, or used to access customers' bank accounts.

Michalyshen said the youths may be connected to a criminal gang that trained them to skim.

"This is just a small cell, and potentially a small cell of a larger organization," he said.

He said the people arrested have been in Manitoba since early January, but a rash of 11 thefts from local businesses dates back to July 2009.

Police in other provinces are investigating this group, but police did not say which businesses were hit.

Thomas Wayne Hope, 25, and four 17-year-old boys are each charged with three counts of possession of an instrument used to forge credit cards, three counts of property obtained by crime, theft under $5,000 and conspiracy to commit fraud. The Winnipeg Police Service commercial crime unit is investigating.

Michalyshen urged local businesses to check their PIN pads frequently to make sure they're authentic and encouraged merchants to fasten down PIN pads so they can't be lifted.

gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 16, 2010 A10

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