Police uncover debit-card skimming at Calgary gas station

Calgary policehave charged three men in connection with adebit-card skimming operation at a gas station.

A search of a southeast home earlier this week turned up debit- and credit-card skimmers, counterfeiting equipment and fake credit cards.

Three men, aged 18, 21 and 26,have been charged with possession of a skimming device and theft of credit-card data, police announced Tuesday.

Det. Colin Harpersays debit-card skimming operations are becoming more common in the city.

In some cases criminals set up pin hole cameras and DVD recorders in stores to track customers' key strokes when they use their bank cards, he said.Other timesthey insert an extra computer chip into the store's debit card reader.

The information collected is then used to create counterfeit cards.

"More often than not we find that an employee in the store has been bought off or has had their cooperation elicited by the culprits with a promise of thousands of dollars in pay. It's been my experience that more often than not the employee in fact ends up receiving nothing or very little."

Harper says police believe the three men arrested this week are linked to other similar debit-skimming operations in the city.

Police also believe the suspects are connected to a counterfeit bank-card ring based in Ontario and Quebec.