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“I don’t know why I didn’t take an Uber,� Kauffman said, looking back. “Maybe it was taking too long, or maybe surge pricing annoyed me. So I went old school.�

As soon as he got inside, Kauffman asked the driver if they accepted tap payments. “‘Bank card only,’� he recalled the driver saying. It gave him pause, but only for a moment. He shrugged it off, buckled his seatbelt and settled in for a quick ride.

What happened next, he says, should’ve set off alarm bells.

Once they arrived to the destination, Kauffman says he handed his card to the driver, who passed him a point-of-sale (POS) machine to enter his PIN. He says he punched in the code, returned the machine, got his card back and stepped out of the cab.Ìý

The next afternoon, he describes receiving a message from his bank saying there was suspicious activity on his account. About $6,000 had vanished. Soon after, he said he realized the card the taxi driver gave back to him was a stranger’s — not his.Ìý

It’s one example of a pattern ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ police say they have been investigating since last July. , police announced they’ve made 11 arrests and laid 108 charges in a complex taxi scam scheme that robbed hundreds of unsuspecting victims of more than $500,000 over the past 10 months.

Police are seeking two more suspects in their investigation, called Project Fare.Ìý

“It’s upsetting,” Kauffman said, adding he reported the theft to police. “There were enough flags that I should have clocked it ... I very quickly went ‘Oh, I’m an idiot. How did I let that happen?’”

More than 300 incidents related to the schemeÌýhave been reported since police opened their investigation last July, said Det. David Coffey, adding Ìý

The alleged scammers used vehicles modifiedÌýto resemble licensed cabs, Coffey said, requiring victims to pay their fare by inserting a debit or credit card before swapping them with a similar-looking card.

The victims’ cards were passed to accomplices, who used them to withdraw cash, deposit fraudulent cheques to inflate account balances and purchase high-value items, investigators said. In addition to the arrests, police seized POS terminals, high-end clothing, electronics, artwork, numerous bank cards and vehicles resembling taxis.

Coffey said the scammers tended to operate at night, targeting customers coming out of bars and theatres in areas such as the Theatre District and King Street West.

Police have been aware of taxi scams for years, Coffey said, noting criminals have used fake signs purchased from Amazon.

“The more convincing they are,” Coffey said, “the more convincing the scam.â€�

ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ resident Matthew Willis said he hasÌýavoided taking cabs since he was the victim of a taxi scam in late 2019. His experience was “literally identical” to what police described, he told the Star.

After leaving a taxi over five years ago, Willis said he didn’t realize anything was amiss until his bank balance dropped. He says he then noticed his card had been swapped with someone else’s.

“That was an unpleasant thing to figure out,” Willis said. “There was a real-time, ‘Oh, dear. Something very seriously weird is going on here.’

“You feel very, very silly.”

Kauffman and Willis both told the Star they were made whole by their banks.Ìý

Coffey said Project Fare is “not an indictment of the legitimate taxi industry,� adding the service is essential in the city.

He urged riders to stay vigilant and protect their finances by checking for legitimate cab identifiers — like a taxi licence plate, visible driver ID, a working meter and a POS machine. Legitimate drivers won’t refuse cash, take your card out of sight or ask for your PIN, he added.

Kauffman says he’s still open to taking a taxiÌýif he needs to. But next time, he says he’ll be sure to keep his guard up.ÌýÌý

“This was a, ‘Fool me once, and I’ll never get fooled again’ situation,” he said.