News

Canadian crooks target hospital ATMs

April 18, 2012

"A shameful trend" seems a bit of an understatement, but according to an article at thestar.com, that's what police are calling a recent spate of card skimming operations at Greater Toronto Area hospitals.

“It’s a lowly offence at the best of times,” Det. Ian Nichol of the financial crimes unit told The Star. “Clearly, when people are going to the hospital they have other things to worry about other than their financial security. It’s definitely a lowly thing to do.”

Police first became ware of the crime on Nov. 18, 2011, when two skimming devices were found on hospital ATMs. Six more were discovered between Nov. 24 of last year and April 11 of this year, The Star said.

So far police have made no arrests, nor have they determined how many ATM users were victimized or how much money might have been stolen from cardholder accounts.

“We believe that the hospitals are being targeted because of the high volume of pedestrian traffic and the fact that the ATM machines are located within open common areas,” said Staff Insp. Bryce Evans in the article. He added that police are reviewing hospital security cameras to try to identify suspects.

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