Police now confirm there are “hundreds” of victims in a debit card scam in Stratford.

Although police said every financial institution was hit, they’ve confirmed there were more than 350 victims at just two banks. “We’re just starting to extrapolate the data, but it’s obviously in the hundreds,” said Det. Inspector Sam Theocharis.   Asked how much money the culprits have scammed, Theocharis said: “Who knows? We can’t say for sure just yet, but it’s well over $100,000. Right now, I can say there’s no bank that hasn’t been affected.”

Police are working with the Interact Canada, the Canadian Bankers Association, and security branches of the various banks to try and gauge the breadth of the scam, which was discovered last weekend as Stratford residents began seeing money disappear from accounts and debit cards were disabled.

Police have traced some of the “empty envelope” deposits to the Greater Toronto Area, Montreal and Kirkland, Que. The scammers use the debit card information of victims to withdraw cash or make phony deposits before making withdrawls. Theocharis said there's little doubt the scam involved more than one person and more than a single ATM, bank or business. But he said the investigation is still in the early stages of pulling information together from various banks.

Some of the victims are from the surrounding area and frequent Stratford on a regular basis. Police have a variety of investigative tools available to them, such as video surveillance to identify suspects, which is part of the information now being gathered.

“We’re still trying to pinpoint where it happened and then we’ll try to find some common denominators and, hopefully, identify some suspects,” said Theocharis.  Police urge Stratford residents to check their accounts and report suspicious activity. The Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) said earlier this week no one will be out of pocket, because the banks will refund their accounts.

The illegal withdrawals range from $200 to $2,000. In some instances, the culprits tried to withdraw money, but failed because of bank anti-fraud technology. 

The CBA says debit card fraud is a problem, but not as widespread as some may think. Less than one per cent of the 21 million debit cards in circulation in 2007 were hit by fraud, with the total amount lost estimated at $107 million.

For information about how to protect yourself from debit-card fraud, the CBA urges consumers to visit its website at www.cba.ca/fraud.