A stranger in a parking lot asked you to pay for their order with your card. It is a scam.
It is a scam. Never tap or insert your card on a terminal someone else is holding for a stranger’s purchase.
Two people approach you in a busy retail parking lot in Durham. One says they only have cash, or their card is not working, and asks you to pay for their food or goods by card in exchange for the cash. The other poses as the vendor or delivery driver with a debit terminal. Durham Regional Police warned about it on 18 September 2026 and say accounts are often drained within minutes.
Is this the message you received?
Quoted by policeDurham Regional Police, as reported by Durham Radio News on 18 September 2026: "The other suspect will pretend to be a food delivery driver or a vendor and they will have a debit terminal." And: "Within minutes, police say your bank account will be drained."
There is no message to paste here because this one happens face to face. The approach, the excuse and the "vendor" change. The terminal held by a stranger, and the card that comes back to you, stay the same.
How it works
The first person is the customer with a problem: cash only, a card that keeps declining, a delivery driver who will not wait. Would you tap your card for them and take the cash? The second person is the vendor or driver, holding a debit terminal. You tap or insert your card and enter your PIN. The "vendor" watches the PIN, then hands you back a card that looks like yours but is not. By the time you notice, your real card and your PIN have been used at a bank machine.
Police describe it as ongoing in busy retail parking lots across Durham Region. It works because everything about it feels like helping someone out, and because most of us never look closely at our own card when it is handed back.
What if someone in a parking lot asks me to pay for them with my card?
Say no and walk to the store. If someone really cannot pay, store staff can help them. Your card should only ever go into a terminal at a real checkout, held by the business, for your own purchase. If your card has been handed back to you by a stranger, check the name and number on it before you put it away.
What to do
- Decline politely and keep walking. Offer to tell store staff if you think the person needs help.
- Check your card after any transaction where someone else held the terminal. If the name or number is wrong, call your bank immediately and cancel the card.
- Cover the keypad every time you enter your PIN, even at a real checkout.
- Report it to Durham Regional Police at 905-579-1520.
- If you tapped the link, entered details or paid: here is exactly what to do next, step by step.
- If this one also reached you by text, forward that text to 7726 (SPAM). How to do that on iPhone and Android.
- Got a different message? Run it through our one-minute checker.
Sources
If this has already happened to you, our scam recovery visit can lock down your accounts and devices. And if you are just not sure whether something is a scam, asking us is always free.