Toronto woman charged after nearly 80 point of sale terminals stolen from GTA businesses

A Toronto woman has been charged in connection to the theft of 79 point of sale (POS) terminals from businesses in the Greater Toronto Area that investigators say were later used to process phony refunds onto credit and debit cards.

Police say the POS terminals were stolen between October 30, 2022 and April 1, 2023 at various businesses, including animal hospitals and veterinary clinics.

Crystalee Hollihan, 37, was arrested on April 1, 2023 and charged with possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000.

Police say the investigation is ongoing and they are trying to identify additional suspects.

“Businesses are being asked to report any lost or stolen POS terminals and incidents of fraudulent transactions to police,” police said in a release.

Toronto police provided the following tips to businesses:

• Keep POS terminals out of sight when not in use and lock them up at the end of day
• Protect POS terminals with a passcode
• Use passcodes for refund transactions and limit the number of employees with access to that function
• When processing a refund, shield the passcode when entering it on the terminal
• Choose passcodes that are not generic and change any default passcodes on the terminal
• Set up refund limits with your payment provider
• Be aware of unknown callers phishing for information related to POS terminals and payment accounts
• Train staff to stay with the customer when completing a transaction on the POS terminal
• Change passcodes when you have a change of staff
• Contact payment providers to enquire about any other security features that can be added to mitigate risk of loss