A Toronto-area woman is out nearly $6,000 after falling victim to a “dishonest teller” scam that convinced her to wire money overseas.
Jo-Anne Lake said she received a call from someone claiming to be from her TD Bank branch last month. She was led to believe a bank employee was pocketing funds from her account.
“They said they were investigating a person in my bank branch, and they had placed the money back in my account that was taken out, and they needed me to help them,” she told CTV Toronto.
The caller asked that she withdraw $5,900 and wire the money to India, saying the dishonest employee would be identified when the funds were accessed.
While transferring the money at a Western Union branch, a person in line told her what she was doing sounded like a scam. But Lake sent the money before it started to sink in that something may be wrong.
She filed a police report and contacted TD Bank, hoping the money would be reimbursed. Her claim was denied.
“We have no reason to believe there was an error or oversight on our end. However, we’d be happy to discuss the situation with the customer directly,” Barbara Timmins, a TD Bank spokesperson for corporate and public affairs, told CTV Toronto in a statement.
Lake believes the scammers used personal information hacked from her computer to gain her trust on the phone. She’s angry about being duped, and hopes her bank will refund the lost money.
“Here I am out over $5,000, and they say claim denied,” Lake said.
With a report from CTV Toronto’s Pat Foran
