Police are warning the public to keep a close eye on their debit cards after the police received reports of taxi scams in Toronto.

On Sept. 30, Dylan Hudecki was taking a taxi home after a Supergrass concert at The Garrison, on Dundas St. W. and Ossington Ave. A Hamiltonian visiting Toronto for the evening, Hudecki hailed a taxi to make sure he caught his 12:20 a.m. GO Train back to Steel City.

Hudecki said the driver told him “debit only,” before he even stepped inside the car.

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Once they’d gotten to Union Station, Hudecki said the first time he tried to pay the driver, he was told something wasn’t working, and to try again.

Hudecki was then given a hand-held machine that he believes wasn’t real. Once he paid, the driver handed him a debit card that looked just like his.

The next morning, he looked at his bank account and noticed $4,989 missing — just under the $5,000 needed for a potential punishment of up to 10 years in prison.

The money, Hudecki said, had been taken out from various ATMs in increments of $500, from both his chequing and savings accounts.

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The debit card he got back after he paid had someone else’s name on it.

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On Sept. 25, Gregory Santilly, also a Hamilton native, took a taxi to Roncesvalles after attending a Toronto Blue Jays game around 10 p.m.

Looking back on the event, Santilly said he was unaware if it was even a “legitimate” cab company, but said he remembers that it had a working meter.

Santilly said the driver told him he accepted credit, but when the hand-held machine didn’t work, Santilly assumed it was his card and opted to use his debit card instead.

“That seemingly worked,” he said. “But when I looked at my bank statement afterwards, there was no charge.”

Because he doesn’t use his debit card often, Santilly said he didn’t notice until the following Monday, when he tried to use it again that his accounts had been frozen.

Both men said they reported the incidents to the cops and their banks — Hudecki to Toronto police and CIBC, and Santilly to Hamilton police and TD Canada Trust.

CIBC spokesperson Jason Wesley said he couldn’t speak about Hudecki’s case, but said that the bank promises to return 100 per cent of the money lost if the victim of fraud has “met all their responsibilities.”

According to the bank’s website this includes selecting passwords and security questions that are “hard to guess” and having passwords set up on the devices you use to bank with. In the “don’ts” section of the policy, the bank asks you not to keep passwords stored on any devices used for online banking and not to use devices without up-to-date anti-virus software.

TD’s policy is similar. The bank’s website said they promise to reimburse the amount lost in a fraudulent transaction if you meet its “security responsibilities.” The bank will not assume responsibility if you’ve “carelessly or improperly” handled or stored your user name and passwords or allowed someone else to use your personal devices.

Toronto police spokesperson Allyson Douglas-Cook said police are investigating reports of similar incidents, which she said reportedly took place in licensed cabs, driven by licensed drivers.

The number of incidents under investigation is unavailable, she said.

“At this time, we would like to remind members of the public to be vigilant when using debit cards at ‘point of sale’ machines,” Douglas-Cook said. She added that taxi riders should always keep possession of their cards and make sure to get a receipt.

The scam is not new. In January 2016, CityNews reported that Toronto police had received more than 65 reports of the card-switching trick in the span of a few months. In June of that year, Toronto men Muhammad Tariq and Ahmed Dogar were arrested for the scam. Adnan Jahangir, also of Toronto, was hit with almost 200 fraud charges in Sept. 2017 for doing the same.