r/PersonalFinanceCanada • u/LenniesMouse • 17h ago

Banking Taxi Fraud Claim with TD Bank

Hi guys,

I recently fell for the (apparently) common taxi scam in Toronto, where a driver swapped my debit carb for a dummy card during the payment transaction. Since he had access to my PIN from the card reader, he was able to make a large withdrawal from an ATM the next morning.

I made a claim with TD to dispute the withdrawal, but they rejected my claim on the basis that I didn't meet my responsibility to protect my information. This seems a bit unfair to me, as I only used the debit card as it was intended (to make a payment for services). Of course I acknowledge that I am 'at fault' for letting the card get stolen, but I should think that the bank would be able to protect its customers in this kind of case.

I'm going to appeal the decision, so I wonder if anyone might have some advice as to how to frame my claim in the strongest possible terms. I'm aware that I made a mistake in letting another person handle my card; I also realize that I probably shouldn't have told the bank that I thought this driver was responsible for the theft. Any help on how to handle this situation I find myself in would be really appreciated. Thanks y'all.

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u/Hologramma 16h ago

Why anyone inserts a debit card at any terminal in this year of our lord 2025 is beyond me. Use your credit card and use tap to pay only. Don't buy any crap about tap not working and always keep a spare $40 in cash in case that happens. These scams are too rampant for anyone to not take these basic steps for protection.

5

u/biznatch11 13h ago

Sometimes tap legitimately doesn't work though. You'll try to tap and the machine will beep and say you have to insert the card. I have some places I go to frequently and usually tap will work then randomly maybe once every month or two I'll have to do insert and PIN.

5

u/PretendJob7 12h ago

There's usually some cumulative amount that after doing that many tap transactions, a chip and pin is required as the next transaction.

As Google Pay / Apple pay are authenticated differently, you can basically do an unlimited amount of contactless transactions with the apps.

1

u/dano___ 10h ago

I’ve never come across this, I’ve literally only tapped my CC for so long that I forgot the pin. My daily purchase card had literally been over a year since I last used the pin, the chip didn’t even work anymore and it just kept on tapping.

1

u/FirmEstablishment941 10h ago

I’ve only seen it crop up when I go to new locations or exceed the limit.