Police are warning residents to be vigilant in protecting their banking information after a local woman fell victim to a high-tech fraud.

"The ways that these people are successful (in stealing) keeps changing," said Jacques Bois, a detective sergeant with the anti-rackets section at OPP General Headquarters.

"They keep getting better technology, and they are taking full advantage of it."

Police believe someone using an electronic card reader stole the woman's debit-card information before withdrawing the maximum daily limit in cash from her bank account.

Authorities suspect the woman's debit card was swiped through a hidden card reader, known as a skimmer, by a gas station attendant shortly after her initial payment was made.

A video camera likely recorded her PIN number as she punched it into the keypad, police said.

"It is not only at ATM machines now," Bois added. "It can virtually be at any store."

A search of a Russian man's car by police in Orillia last year uncovered a portable card reader, a small device capable of copying a person's banking information when a debit-card purchase is made.

Police believe the man intended to deliver the card reader to an area gas station where investigators discovered a small camera that could have been used to monitor customers as they entered their PIN numbers on the store's debit machine.

A store clerk, who is working in cahoots with the suspect, will swipe the card a second time when the customer is distracted.

A tiny camera mounted near the store's debit machine then records the individual as they enter their PIN, giving criminals the information they need to access the victim's account.

"People are becoming more aware of it," Bois said.

"When you look at the total number of transactions, the people who actually get comprised is less than .01 of a per cent. But it is obviously more noticeable in a smaller community."

Other devices can be installed directly over the mouth of an automatic teller machine, and are equally capable of swiping personal information from the magnetic strip on the backside of the card.

Police advise debit-users to check their monthly bank statements, shred financial documents slated for disposal and run an annual credit check on themselves.

Banks often contact customers whose accounts are experiencing an unusually large number of withdrawals, noted Const. Sean McTeague.

"They are pretty good at flagging stuff like that and calling," he said.

Bois stressed that those involved in debit-card fraud often hold the victim's banking information for several months before using it.

"People assume the last place they used the card is the place it got skimmed, but generally that is not the case," he added.

He recommends residents change their PIN numbers regularly.

"Ultimately monthly or bi-monthly," would be ideal, he said.