Passenger reveals Sydney taxi driver's card machine scam
The public is being warned to remain vigilant when catching taxis after passengers continue to have their credit card details stolen by dodgy drivers.
Sydney man Nick (who asked for his last name to be withheld) is one of the latest to be targeted by a criminal cabbie when he caught a taxi in Sydney’s CBD on Friday afternoon.
When he went to pay, the driver told him the EFTPOS terminal was playing up and asked him to swipe his card, rather than tap. “The guy told me the chip was broken and I had to insert my PIN,” he explained to Yahoo News Australia.
The next morning it became apparent his details had been skimmed when someone tried to withdraw $790 from his account and he was notified by his bank.
“I’m a software developer and I actually take security really seriously,” Nick explained. “I use Uber on my regular account but from where I work in the city sometimes it’s hard to get an Uber.”
He uses a specific card for taxi trips and he is certain the driver skimmed his details because it was the only time the card had been used. “It couldn’t have been anything else at all,” he said.
Taxis working with police to wipe out skimming
Sydney taxi drivers have been accused of this fraudulent behaviour for years. In 2014, four drivers were arrested across Sydney for skimming passenger’s card details.
In 2017 NSW police led a crackdown against the practice and met with several banks and other organisations to target crooked cab drivers who use software tools and altered eftpos machines to steal credit card information from passengers.
It’s often the case that the cloned data taken from the magnetic strip is then loaded onto eftpos cards and can be used to withdraw money from a victim’s account.
Nick believes some drivers also equip the cab with small cameras in an effort to catch the passenger putting in their PIN code.
“The NSW police fraud squad has been quite active in this space,” said Nick Abraham, the Deputy Chief Executive of the NSW taxi Council.
He admits it’s still an issue but said it is only a tiny fraction of bad drivers on the roads. “Broadly speaking if you look at the number of transactions the equivalent rate of skimming or fraudulent activity is extremely low,” he told Yahoo News Australia.
“What would be ideal would be to have a lot more of these cases where people are held accountable,” he said. “We want to see them wiped out of the industry.”
Weeding out the bad drivers
Despite the recent crackdowns, Nick’s story suggests there are still some dodgy drivers out there. He posted a warning to Sydney residents on social media site Reddit and a number of users reported having the same thing happen to them.
“I know quite a few people who have been skimmed in taxis. I'll never get a taxi again now that there's other options,” commented one user.
“Has happened to me before, they said the machine was broken and he took a physical scan of the card on one of those old manual machines,” said another user.
“That exact thing has happened to me before. Bloody taxis,” another user wrote.
Mr Abraham said passengers should take care, especially when intoxicated, and take precautions to protect themselves in taxis when paying by card.
“People should remain vigilant whenever using forms of payment other than cash. Always keep the card in sight and in close proximity,” he said.
In order to help weed out criminal drivers, he appealed to the public to take note of identifying information and go to the authorities if need be.
“Whenever you take a taxi journey try to take as much note of the vehicle and driver details ... Because then if you do wake up the next morning with a nasty surprise that helps us with any investigation.”
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