Three people are facing multiple charges for orchestrating a major debit card scam in B.C.'s Lower Mainland believed to be part of a major crime syndicate that has connections to Ontario and Montreal.

Langley RCMP spokesman Cpl. Peter Thiessen says the scam artists mainly targeted restaurants and retail stores in and around the Willowbrook Shopping Centre in Langley.
(CBC)

Police said Monday they've uncovered a number of instances where debit machines were removed and altered ones put in their place. The altered machines would then record debit card information as well as personal identification numbers (PIN numbers).

The main targets were restaurants and retail stores in and around the Willowbrook Shopping Centre in Langley, B.C., said Langley RCMP spokesman Cpl. Peter Thiessen.

"[They] retrieved information when they swapped the pin pads the second time, getting debit card numbers and passwords and taking money out fraudulently from victim's accounts," Thiessen said on Monday.

The McDonald's in the area had its pin pad swapped 16 separate times — leaving hundreds of victims out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, Thiessen said.

Police also uncovered similar scams in Vancouver, Maple Ridge, West Vancouver, Richmond, Coquitlam and Abbotsford, he said.

Police say a warrant has been issued for Dimitru Kovacs, who's involved in a major debit card scam in the Lower Mainland.
(RCMP/CBC)

The three involved in the Lower Mainland debit card scam have extensive connections to Ontario and Montreal, Thiessen said, and police allege that one of two of those arrested may be the main supplier of counterfeit debit cards in the Lower Mainland.

Dumitru Gabureac and Oksana Syrevich were arrested by police on Friday in downtown Vancouver and a warrant has been issued for Dimitru Kovacs.

Gabureac is charged with two counts of theft and one count of possession of instruments for forging credit cards. Syrevich is charged with one count of theft and one count of possession of instruments for forging credit cards.

Kovacs is charged with four counts of theft and three other counts of fraud-related charges.

Gabureac and Syrevich have made their first appearance in a B.C. provincial court.