Nanaimo restaurant loses hundreds after man swipes debit machine on camera
A restaurant owner in Nanaimo, B.C., is sending out a warning about a debit "skimming" attack it fell prey to on Sunday evening.
The co-owner and manager of MGM Restaurant, which has been in operation since 1985, claims a customer not only stole their debit and credit machine pin pad, but he also gave himself numerous refunds using the machine.
"We were never meant to notice this, I don't think," said co-owner Tricia Samaroo.
"It was meant to be a very smooth transaction where he came in, quietly took the pin pad, we were never supposed to be aware," she said.
Samaroo says the restaurant has video surveillance of the incident, which occurred at closing time on Sunday night.
A man approached staff at the MGM Restaurant pleading for them to serve him a meal.
He ended up with two poutines to go, but during the transaction the restaurant owner claims he stole their pin pad.
The alleged thief is shown grabbing the pin pad on surveillance camera. (MGM Restaurant)"We often help people at the front door," said Samaroo.
"They're all, 'The restaurants are closed, we're hungry, can you serve us?' And we find a way to come up with something that we can serve them with the kitchen being closed," she said.
Staff say the man sat at a booth close to where the pin pad was located while they fixed up the poutine. Then he struck while they were distracted.
"He got up and he went right to the pin pad, put it underneath his jacket, wrapped his jacket around it, and then peered to make sure we were out of sight. Then he left," she says.
They're not sure if his intent was to also replace the terminal with a skimming device attached, but they believe their surveillance camera caught him using the pin pad to send customer rebates to his own debit cards.
"He did end up taking money from our bank account through the pin pad by using the refund function over and over again," said Samaroo.
RCMP INVESTIGATING
Police are investigating and are looking for the man as well as his red or burgundy vehicle, which may be a Dodge Avenger.
"He's done his research, he's done it before, he's scouted it out, so obviously he realizes the pin pad is probably being left unattended," said Nanaimo RCMP Const. Gary O'Brien.
The man's vehicle is shown. (MGM Restaurant/Facebook)RCMP say it serves as a teaching moment to other merchants to be more protective of their transaction terminals.
"Businesses have to be aware," said O'Brien. "Putting [pin pad machines] in a secure case would stop that."
The restaurant's cameras recorded the man returning in the early hours of Monday morning trying to use the terminals again, this time accompanied by a second individual wearing a suit.
The man used cash for his meal on Monday, but the restaurant is still out hundreds in lost revenue and the pin pad he allegedly swiped was never returned.
Samaroo has posted the man's photo to social media, now adding crime fighting to her regular duties.
"The police are so busy and they're so understaffed, right?" she said. "I really appreciate their time but I know that they're going to take the time that they're going to take, and so I'm just going to do what I need to do on my end."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.