An ATM skimming group, said to be responsible for 300 incidents netting them more than $2 million in six months ($7k/incident), has been detained and charged by Canadian authorities.

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau (OCEB) Identity Crimes Unit (ICU), assisted by the Durham Regional Police Service (DRPS), Halton Regional Police Service (HRPS), York Regional Police Service (YRPS), Niagara Regional Police Service (NRPS), OPP Highway Safety Division, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and OCEB Assets Forfeiture Unit concluded a two month investigation into an organized crime group of Eastern European individuals who were involved in the tampering of Automated Banking Machines (ABM) in order to skim payment card data across Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia with some occurrences reported in Nova Scotia. These individuals attach devices to ABM’s that enable the capture of debit card data and Personal Identification Numbers (PIN) during the legitimate use of banking products by unsuspecting victims. The devices are left in place from one to two hours and then the skimmed data is encoded onto other plastic cards to be used by the perpetrators to access victims’ accounts with out their knowledge.