Recently introduced ‘tap and go’ technology, which allows people to make faster purchases with a debit or credit card at a point of sale terminal without punching in a PIN number, along with seniors being cheated out of their money, are two of the biggest fraud concerns facing Sault Police.
Reviewing numbers for the Sault Ste. Marie Police Services Board for their Thursday meeting, Constable Alison Campbell of the service’s fraud unit said fraud cases have increased from 2013 to the current year.
Campbell said “a lot of the tap and go and cheque frauds are related to theft from vehicles and break and enters.”
Tap and goes are mostly under $100, as most people have $100 tap and go daily limits on their debit cards.
“The problem is sometimes you can tap them one day for a hundred dollars, the next day for a hundred, and sometimes these guys have these (stolen) cards for longer periods of time if people aren’t aware their wallets are missing. Sometimes it will take people a couple of days before they realize their cards are taken,” Campbell said, while noting such fraud is not unique to the Sault but happening wherever the technology exists.
Such frauds result in victims getting reimbursed by their financial institutions.
Consequently, many victims do not report tap and go frauds.
“These are, in my opinion, under reported,” Campbell said.
“We are doing a lot of them (charging those involved in tap and go crimes),” Campbell told the board.
Patrol officers or the duty officer at the Police Service building will receive a call, and from there police will gather video from outlets where a tap and go fraud has occurred.
“Most of the time we’re very successful in identifying who’s on the video using these cards and they’re charged accordingly,” Campbell said.
“I would suggest having that (tap and go payment) feature removed from your card,” Campbell told reporters after the open portion of Thursday’s board meeting.
“To punch in a PIN number is not that difficult and it is your PIN number. I understand everybody wants convenience but the minute someone gets a hold of your wallet and card they can tap wherever they want. There’s no limitations other than the dollar amount set on what they can do with that card.”
Campbell said, in keeping with what police have stated repeatedly, “do not leave valuables in your vehicles, gym lockers, anywhere where they’re not on your person.”
“Residential break and enters we can’t help because everybody has their property inside their homes, but absolutely with vehicles, do not leave identification and wallets in your vehicles,” Campbell said.
Many frauds are also a result of people taking advantage of elderly parents, a form of elder abuse, Campbell said.
Campbell said adult children of elderly people will sometimes steal from their parents, especially if those adult children have hit hard financial times.
“Banks are not refunding money to victims of this because it’s family members that are involved who have access to all the accounts so it’s no error on their (the banks) part.”
“A lot of times these elderly people are left with nothing. We set up resources and try and get that taken care of and prevent anything else from being taken away. They’re sad. They’re not fun,” Campbell said in reference to such cases of crime, police having to deal with more than one such case this year.
When it comes to seniors being ripped off by their own grown up children, PSWs or others, Campbell suggested seniors should get a capacity assessment, in which a senior may visit a physician or nurse practitioner to see if they have the capacity to care for themselves medically and financially.
“Once that is revoked that is when your power of attorney steps in to handle finances. People need to remember once your financial power of attorney is invoked, that does not mean you get to use any of that money for yourself. That money is only used for your loved one and the minute someone starts using it for themselves that is a criminal offence.”
Campbell suggested seniors should get two people to act in a power of attorney capacity for them, should the need arise.
“One would always keep the other honest. One can still look into Mom’s records to see what’s going on, where they both have access to view it. Generally that is when they notice money is going missing.”
While banks will, in many cases, refund the money to tap and go and cheque fraud victims, Campbell said e-transfers are a “huge” problem.
With e-transfers, fraudsters will go online to a company’s website, check out the names of the company’s boss and the finance manager, contact the finance manager by email, claim the boss has ordered a money transfer and ask for money to be sent electronically to them.
In such cases of fraud, police will check IP addresses, writing warrants and chasing the people responsible for that e-transfer crime.
Campbell said such crimes have been made against two local businesses in 2018, one for $45,000, another for $2,500.
A source of frustration for police, Campbell said, is that many of the people apprehended for tap and go crimes are repeat offenders.
“The catch and release issues are still alive here. It’s the same people, usually on two or three releases on bail. That is a concern as we move forward,” Police Chief Hugh Stevenson told the board.
Much of the fraud in the city is related to the drug trade, Stevenson said.
“That’s why our police service has taken on several proactive steps to deal with the illegal drug trade in this city. That explains our H.E.A.T. (High Enforcement Action Team) unit and our CORE (Community Oriented Response and Enforcement) unit and our setting up of the JUMP (satellite) station at Station Mall. There’ll be a few more alternatives coming relatively shortly that’ll deal with the funds associated with this (drug) industry,” Stevenson said.