Police are investigating a series of fraudulent charges made in Evanston with the debit card of a man who said it was stolen by a Chicago taxi driver.

A man recently reported to Chicago police that after taking a cab in Chicago, his debit card was used in Evanston to make several illegal charges, Evanston police Cmdr. Jay Parrott said.

The man tried to pay for the cab fare with his debit card, but the card reader in the back of the taxi was not working, police said. The man then gave his card over to the driver to pay, and the driver handed back to him a debit card and a receipt.

However, the man said he did not realize the driver had given him someone else’s debit card, Parrott said. The card given to the passenger turned out to be that of someone who was ripped off in a similar scam a year before, police said.

Police are very close to identifying the driver, who made several purchases in Evanston with the card, Parrott said. Detectives are currently looking for video evidence that could be used to indicate the driver’s identity, he said.

Evanston police are also investigating a similar scam in which illegal charges were made with a credit card in Evanston after a cab ride in Chicago, Parrott said. Police are not sure if the two incidents are related, he said.

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