Suspects sought in debit card fraud

Codiac RCMP have located a person of interest in connection with a recent rash of debit card frauds in Moncton, but are still seeking the publics help in identifying two suspects.

Photos of all three menwere released last Friday.

Police have received about 30 formal complaints from people who lost money from their bank accounts, while at least 36 cases have been reported to financial institutions, Const. Damien Thriault stated in a news release.

Some of the unauthorized transactions totalled thousands of dollars, he had said.

The investigation so far has shown that the information stolen from the cards was used in a foreign country to obtain funds fraudulently, Thriault said.

Police have interviewed the person of interest and determined he had no involvement in the frauds, he said.

Early Feb. 16, three men entered a gas station convenience store on Champlain Street in Dieppe, said Thriault.

One of the point-of-sale terminals at the counter was removed and replaced, so the suspects could obtain banking information from all cards swiped on that terminal, he said.

The terminal was removed by the service provider on March 5.

Meanwhile, a terminal at a restaurant on Mountain Road in Moncton was also tampered with.

Investigators are now able to say the two incidents are related, said Thriault.