Metro Transit Police have arrested six people in an elaborate fare card scam that has so far netted the agency $16,000 worth of stolen Farecards, officials said yesterday. The investigation is ongoing, and officials do not know how much the counterfeit operation has cost the agency.
"This was a sophisticated operation to defraud a public agency," Metro General Manager John B. Catoe Jr. said at a news conference. "We think there is a Mr. Big, and that's who we would like to find."
The thieves traded in counterfeit paper Farecards in Metro Farecard machines to receive legitimate ones, or used the counterfeit ones to add value to electronic SmarTrip cards, officials said.
The thieves also sold some of the legitimate cards on the street at half-price, officials said. Metro is investigating whether the cards were also sold online. Because many transit agencies have similar fare collection systems -- a magnetic strip that is electronically read by a Farecard machine -- Metro has also alerted the American Public Transportation Association, a major industry group, so other agencies can be on the alert.
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The fraud was discovered this week but began early this year, officials said. Officials said the individuals created counterfeit paper Farecards that were detectable to a person but not to Farecard machines. The officials declined to provide details about how the operation worked or how the scam was detected. Officials have praised Transit Police, technology and financial transactions departments personnel for moving quickly to halt the theft.
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Those little paper tickets almost seemed pretty insecure...but it was just a feeling.
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