Woman speaks out after being defrauded $2,400 by fake Domino's delivery driver

A customer swipes a MasterCard debit card through a machine while checking-out at a shop in Seattle on Nov. 2, 2009. (AP / Elaine Thompson)

A woman is speaking out after she was defrauded $2,400 by a man posing as a Domino's delivery driver.

The Mississauga woman, who only wants to be identified by her first name Claire, told CP24.com that she was parked in front of a house in the area of Tenth Line and Cactus Gate at around 4 p.m. on March 31, waiting to pick up a friend of her daughter’s.

She said that as she waited, a man in his 20s approached, knocked on her window and explained that he had ordered pizza but couldn’t pay for it since the driver didn’t accept cash.

Claire said that the man then motioned to a silver vehicle parked across the street with Domino's signage affixed to its roof.

Wanting to help and having no reason to doubt the man’s story given the seemingly “legitimate” looking delivery vehicle, Claire said that she agreed to pay for the pizza using her debit card in exchange for cash.

But when she went to tap, she said the driver informed her that the tap function wasn’t working and she would have to insert her card.

She inserted her card, entered her information and even got a receipt for the transaction. She then headed back to her car as the driver handed the other man a pizza box and drove away but began to get an uneasy feeling shortly thereafter.

She checked her online banking, saw that the transaction for the pizza wasn’t showing up and decided to call her bank to ease her mind.

Within moments, she realized that she had been scammed.

“When they asked me for my card number, that's when I realized that it wasn't my card anymore,” Claire told CP24.com. “I'm reading the number to the customer service representative and I was like ‘Oh no, this is not my card’ and that is when I started panicking. Right around then, I started to get messages that $1,000 had been withdrawn and things like that.”

Claire said that when she handed the debit machine back to the driver, her card was still inserted, which would have allowed him to covertly switch it out for another one.

She said that her bank was able to lock her card, but not before the fraudsters attended a nearby branch and deposited a fraudulent check at an ATM, allowing them to withdraw $2,400.

Claire’s ordeal comes on the heels of a now-viral thread on Reddit in which another individual recounted a similar fraud attempt involving a fake Domino's delivery vehicle outside Fairview Mall last week.

There have also been numerous reported thefts this year, in which a suspect or suspects posing as taxi drivers have covertly swapped out debit cards and defrauded unwitting riders of thousands of dollars.

“That is why I wanted to share this,” Claire said. “It is a residential area (where it happened) and there is a lot of people walking with their dogs and that sort of thing who could be approached. It is just kind of scary. It is people’s hard earned money.”

Peel police have told CP24 that there is an “ongoing investigation” into the incident involving Claire, though no arrests have been made to date.

Police say that they are not aware of any other active investigations in Peel Region involving a fake Domino's delivery driver but have heard about other scams, involving the swapping of debit cards.

“There is only one way to protect yourself from these types of scams: never let anyone, but you tap, swipe, or insert your card into a machine,” Const. Sarah Patten told CP24.

As for Claire, she told CP24.com that she is grateful that she got the scam before the thieves were able to further deplete her back account.

She said that her bank is investigating and she is hopeful that she will be reimbursed but will have to wait 10 to 20 business days for the decision.

“If not I will feel pretty sorry for myself for doing this good deed,” she said.