They're a scourge to society and nefarious PIN pad peekers are nothing if not inventive.

A surveillance video recently obtained from an Airdrie convenience store shows a startling debit fraud scam far more sophisticated than so-called "shoulder surfing" and skimming machines, prompting the RCMP to warn retailers and customers alike.

"We're in a constant race, along with the banks and the financial institutes, to defeat what they're doing next ... this is an advancement for the criminals," Sgt. Patrick Webb said yesterday.

The footage, dated Sept. 11, shows three men entering the store just before closing time -- two acting as lookouts and distracting the clerk, the other covertly inspecting the business' PIN pad.

A fourth suspect, a woman, enters and uses a bag to shield the PIN pad from the retailer's view -- and ultimately, the man at the counter swipes the store's device and replaces it with a dummy pad.


It's a scheme likely to give crooks access to information from dozens of debit cards from a single retail location in just one day, said Const. Lane Menard of the RCMP's commercial crime section.

"Now that they've taken this pad, they go to a separate location, open it up and place some technology inside that allows them to copy the information from swiping your card, as well as a transmitter where they can receive all that information," said Menard.

"They will return the next morning with that original PIN pad, take their covert one and everything functions, and we're none the wiser."

In the case captured on video, a customer visited the store shortly after the card-swiping quartet departed and, when the debit pad didn't work, the retailer promptly notified authorities.

Mounties determined the dummy pad was actually stolen from Surrey, B.C., merely a day before.

In 2006, 119,000 debit cards in Canada had information lifted -- a small percentage considering the millions in circulation.

But, Menard said store owners should secure their PIN pads or keep them out of reach, while consumers should check their accounts for any