Historicist: "The city that nobody loves"
Elsewhere in the Ist-a-Verse
The Daily Photoist: November 23, 2009
Urban Planner: November 23, 2009
OK, it’s not exactly Oceans Eleven, but this low-rent scam could cost you a couple of bucks if you use TTC token vending machines. What the vandals do is stick a piece of folded up paper or cardboard in the coin return of the machine, so that when coins are deposited in the upper slot, they get stuck instead of falling through. Later on, the perps come back and pull the paper out with a knife or a wire, and the machine pays off a little tiny jackpot of freed loons and toons. Apart from robbing you of your subway fare, this act of criminal genius damages the token dispensers, which costs everybody money.
Best bet if you’re putting change in one of these machines is to drop your smallest coin in first. If you don’t hear it drop, peer into the bottom slot to see if there’s anything stuck in there (if people are watching when you do this, it can be funny to start talking into it like it’s a telephone). If you see anything, call the number on the machine and the TTC will send someone out to fix it.
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This type of scam has been common with bank machines for a while. I figure it's the reason why CIBC has recently installed those green plastic things onto the card slots of theirs.
RBC is also installing new protections against ATM swipe scanners.
I was a victim of this at Bathurst Station! I, of course, was not so bright, and dropped in 2 toonies before I realized the first one never hit the bottom of the machine.
Luckily, a TTC maintenance staffperson was there, and he let me into the station. I called the TTC a day later with the machine number, and they sent me a refund.