A BMO customer in Toronto is speaking out after being scammed out of her life’s savings following a phone call with a fraudster.
A Toronto content creator and mom of two named Courtney said her chequing and savings accounts were completely emptied following the scam.
“I have 2 kids and a mortgage in Toronto. So you can imagine, the financial impact is quite high in this economy,” Courtney told Now Toronto on Friday.
Earlier this week, she says she received a phone call from a man who said he was from the BMO Fraud Department and asked her to verify suspicious transactions on her card.
The phone call came from the same number listed on the back of Courtney’s BMO card.
The man, who Courtney recalls as being “calm and reassuring,” read out what he said were recent transactions on her account, and she confirmed these were not from her.
@.closetcrusader All of my money is gone. My chequing, my savings, all of it gone. Please be careful if someone calls you from your bank. I asked all the right questions and he still scammed me. I can’t believe this happened #scam #fraud #canadian ♬ original sound – Courtney – Closet Crusader
She says he asked her to verify the name on the card, her home address, date of birth, and then listed off other recent transactions that were in fact real.
“He already had them in front of him,” Courtney told Now Toronto.
She began to sense something was wrong when he asked her to read a verification code he had sent her. “It came from the exact same 5 digit number that I have received multi-factor authentication from BMO,” Courtney said.
“I again sensed something was off because he then told me since my debit card, with my chequing and savings account, were linked to my compromised Mastercard, he needed to ’unlink’ them from the card. He also proceeded to ask me about other credit cards I make payments to from the BMO account.”
The man, pretending to protect Courtney from fraud, changed the surname and password on her online banking and provided her with the updated sign-in details.
“Once I finally got off the call with him, I realized I was locked out of my BMO online banking,” she said.
Courtney did not disclose to Now Toronto how much money was stolen.
She says she asked the man several questions to confirm he was legitimate, including his full name, employee ID, and case ID numbers for the two fraud charges he referenced, which he provided.
Courtney has reached out to BMO and the Toronto Police Service (TPS) to try and get her money back and has since heard back from both.
“I called and they [BMO] verified all of my money in my chequing and savings was gone. It has been transferred into the credit card he stole to a company called PAYSIMPLY. I then spoke with fraud and reported this. They told me they opened a case.”
When Courtney went to her BMO branch and told them the situation, they replaced her credit card on the existing, now empty account. They also created a new account.
The bank told her the fraud case could take up to 30 business days for any movement to be made.
“There is no guarantee I will get my money back, but if the fraud department is able to recover any of it, it will be put back into my accounts. They told me I will not receive a phone call and I will need to be proactive and follow up with fraud and with the branch on my own,” she said. “Now it is a waiting game.”
The TPS documented Courtney’s case and collected all the evidence she could provide, telling her that the Fraud Detective at 41 Division would reach out to her in the next week to move the case forward.
They also recommended she report the fraud to the RCMP and to call Equifax and Transunion to report it should any flags arise on her credit reports.
In the meantime, Courtney says she will “wait and rebuild.”
“I already canceled every credit card and debit card I own. All of my hard-earned money is gone and I am hoping and praying BMO can recover what was taken from me.”
In a statement to Now Toronto, BMO said it’s an “extremely difficult situation” for scam victims.
“We immediately reviewed this matter after our customer was in contact with us yesterday and had a good conversation with them. The case has been resolved as part of our regular process.”
The bank adds that in situations involving suspected fraud, it always encourages customers to contact BMO immediately, as well as the police, to fully support their investigation and the successful recovery of funds.
SCAM PREVENTION
While scammers are becoming increasingly tech-savy and manipulative, there are some ways to avoid being robbed by fraudsters.
David Milosevic, a commercial litigation lawyer who focuses on investor loss and civil fraud claims, says there is “an epidemic of fraud and it has been growing.”
“Unless it’s someone she knew and can identify who it is, the odds are essentially zero. These are organized frauds mostly originating with professional criminal groups based overseas,” Milosevic said, in regards to a case where someone steals funds over the phone.
He said that he sees a recurring pattern with text and phone frauds in his line of work.
“The low level text frauds are simply sending fake links that they’re trying to get you to click on and these can infect your phone and data can be stolen. There are also typical texts that pose as Canada Revenue Agency messages offering refunds, phone companies offering discounts or promotions, or other service providers being imitated.”
Milosevic says the best thing someone can do to protect against text fraud is to not click on any links.
“At my office, I have about 40 people call per week who have been defrauded in cryptocurrency scams that all begin this way through a text or WhatsApp message,” he said. “I’ve had people who have literally mortgaged their houses to raise funds and put them into these investments and have lost everything.”
To avoid situations like these, he says that if you suspect you’re involved in a fraud situation, you likely are.
“If you have a good relationship with your bank and you haven’t had fraudulent activity occur on your account before, promptly reporting the fraud to your bank can result in the bank taking quick action to stop transactions, or compensating you for losses that may have occurred in your account,” he said.
However, he adds that bank liability is quite limited to third party access to your accounts, especially if that access occurred through you clicking a link, mistakenly giving someone a password, or losing your bank card.
“The fraudsters prey on people who are trusting, and who will continue to send funds based on promises.”
