PIN pad fraudsters arrested

Kelowna RCMP have arrested three men in connection with a sophisticated PIN pad scam.

Last week, three Okanagan businesses discovered that their PIN pads had been replaced with decoy machines.

The fake machines were uncovered before anyone’s personal information or bank accounts were compromised.

Acting on a tip from the public, RCMP set up surveillance at a local motel.

They arrested three men from Eastern Canada, aged 21, 26 and 28. A female suspect is still on the loose.

At the time of the arrests police also seized equipment designed to compromise PIN pads.

Investigators believe the suspects were going into businesses at closing time, swapping decoys for the real PIN pads, and inserting wireless technology into the machines.

The plan was apparently to return to the businesses at opening time, remove the decoy, put the compromised machines back into service, and then collect debit and credit card information by using Bluetooth technology.

RCMP are urging local businesses to protect their PIN Pads by keeping them in a safe place, securing them to a desk with a cable, or checking their serial numbers every night to ensure they haven’t been replaced with a decoy machine.