Two Toronto businesses say they were scammed out of thousands of dollars by customers issuing themselves refunds through point-of-sale (POS) terminals.At one, Souvlaki Hut in The Beaches, a customer was caught on CCTV refunding himself $2,000 after picking up the POS terminal, appearing to pay. In reality, the customer issued himself a manual refund. The business said they hadn't known they were supposed to set a limit on their machine — and if they had known, they would have.Artie Jorgaqi, the son of the Souvlaki Hut owner, commented on what POS vendors should do to prevent this kind of fraud: "I think they should put in some better steps to help protect anyone that uses their services. Maybe limit the amount that someone can get in a refund, or put in two-step authorization to prevent this from happening again.”.The vendor for Souvlaki Hut's POS is Clover. The Western Standard has reached out to Clover for a comment but did not receive a response by the deadline.Barbara Deangelis, owner of Toronto business, Pippins Tea Company, says a few weeks ago a customer came in, claiming to buy a teacup, then refunded himself $4,900 using a Moneris POS terminal. Moneris ultimately refunded the stolen money.In response to press inquiries by CTV, Moneris stated they do not have a "default refund code," which would make it easier for thieves to process fraudulent refunds. .They also explained what businesses can do to prevent these scams: “When merchants set up their devices, they’re prompted to set administrative passwords on the devices, and it's recommended that they also set up user profiles and permissions for things such as refunds. We also always recommend that businesses treat their payment terminals as they would cash — locked away and secure when not in use,” spokesperson Darren Leroux said in an email.Toronto police say they have not been able to link the two cases, but a wave of similar scams has been occurring in other parts of the city.
