'Insufficient evidence,' horrified Bank of Montreal customer is told after fighting to get back $5k drained from account | 1NJD01J | 2024-05-01 05:08:01
BANKING customer Shpend Cekaj was horrified when he noticed that $5,000 had been taken from his account.
The two transactions – both acts of fraud – left Cekaj without a good chunk of change.
Last November, the Calgary, Canada resident noticed that around $5,000 was missing from his Bank of Montreal account, which he shared with CTV News Calgary.
First, a transfer of $2,500 was taken from his checking account and deposited into another account.
Three minutes later, $2,480 was successfully drained from his account and deposited into another account.
"I'm trying to support my family, not to support the scammers," Cekaj told CTV News Calgary.
The banking customer filed a police report, but was told by investigators that "there was insufficient evidence to proceed."
When Cekaj spoke to Bank of Montreal employees, they informed him that the bank would investigate the fraudulent transfers and update him after three weeks.
"Three months is when I get the answer, which was declined," said Cekaj. "So no compensation."
"How can I be sure, for example, if they investigated that, because if the money goes inside Canada, I don't think it's so hard to find that," he added.
Calgary police launched a fraud prevention awareness campaign on March 1, giving presentations and warning residents of the dangers of fraud.
Last year, they received over 9,000 fraud-related calls, CTV News Calgary reported.
The U.S. Sun reached out to the Bank of Montreal for comment.
BANKING BUST
Cekaj isn't the only Bank Of Montreal customer hit with missing funds.
<!-- End of Brightcove Player --> Bernetta Serrick, a Newfoundland woman, realized after checking her banking app that someone had been draining thousands of dollars from her account over an extended period.
"I seen all these transactions, $5,000 here, $4,000-something here, going different places," Serrick explained to CBC News.
When the customer went to the bank, she reported that a $5,000 transfer happened in real time as the employee watched.
"I said, 'Stop it, flag it, do whatever you need to do, just stop it,'" she described, but the employee was unable to do anything about it.
The losses were spread out over four transactions through global money transfers – the funds were converted into Euros and subsequently deposited into two accounts with full names attached to them.
To make matters worse, Serrick's home was deeply in need of structural repairs, but the woman lived alone and relied on a merger pension and money from a widower's allowance.
Serrick filed a report with the Bank of Montreal and her case went under review.
The customer reflected upon how her account might have been accessed and recalled filling out a password change prompt that she had believed to be from her bank.
If Serrick is at fault for compromising her account, the bank may not be required to reimburse her.
"The consumer is the victim of a crime, but it's often not the bank's responsibility to pay the money that's been stolen from them," said Sarah Bradley, the CEO of Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments.
"It's often the case that consumers don't realize they have provided access to their accounts to a scammer," she explained.
Serrick reached out to the police and was told that the investigation process for financial crimes is long and difficult, and not always fruitful.
"It's not very nice living with this, knowing your money is gone and that's it," Serrick said.
More >> https://ift.tt/3lK2IZV Source: MAG NEWS
