Eastern Ontario woman out nearly $20,000 in bank scam

A ScotiaBank customer says she lost just under $20,000 in a scam involving fraudsters posing as her bank. CTV's Katelyn Wilson reports.

An eastern Ontario woman is out thousands of dollars after she fell victim to fraudsters claiming to work for her bank, convincing her that she needed their help.

Kelsey Potter says it all started when she received text messages to her phone alerting her to suspicious purchases made at Sephora.

“A minute or so later, my phone started ringing and it popped up as Scotiabank. They were calling me to confirm if these purchases were fraudulent or not,” she said.

Potter says the man on the phone told her to reply to the messages with an “N” to stop the charges and then log into her Scotiabank app.

“While I was on the phone, he said, ‘Okay can you see those credits heading back into your account?’ and I said, ‘Yeah I can see it’ and he was like, ‘Okay thanks for taking the call.’”

That night, she received an alert that her two-factor authentication code had been changed.

Shortly after, she says the person called back convincing her to e-transfer nearly $10,000 into a security account.

“He instructed me to make the transfers in order to keep those funds safe and then to go into the bank immediately to rectify anything,” Potter said.

First thing the next morning, Potter says she looked at her accounts and another $9,600 was missing.

“By that time, my husband and I were already driving to the bank, when we got in there, we advised them that we already asked for the accounts to be frozen,” she said.

“The first thing they did in the branch was shut them down and then proceeded to tell us that Scotiabank hasn’t been in contact with us, that Scotiabank wouldn’t do these things, that basically we had been frauded.”

In a statement to CTV News, Scotiabank says, “Scotiabank cannot comment on individual client matters for privacy reasons. We take cases of fraud seriously and continue to educate clients that the Bank will never call to ask for one-time passwords (OTPs), PINs and verification codes over the phone, or ask clients to move money into another account. Clients are encouraged to always practice safe banking habits while doing their part to help recognize, reject, and report fraud.”

According to police, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre received over $637 million in fraud reports across the country last year. Of those losses, $16.3 million was associated to bank investigator frauds.

“Whether it be on their personal device or their laptop you can download any remote entry software and that allows the suspects to move funds around,” said Ontario Provincial Police Det. Const. John Armit.

“The criminals use call spoofing software and techniques to mislead the victims. I always say, if it’s an unsolicited text message, email, or phone call, just politely say that you’ll call back, then call back the number that you have for the bank.”

Armit says to report any fraud to local police and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

Potter says she filed a police report but has been told by the bank there is nothing it can do.

“Bills don’t stop, we have mortgage payments coming out. Without some type of resolution, we will default,” she said.