Senior Hamilton couple lose nearly $70K from Scotiabank employee impersonation scam

A pair of Hamilton seniors lost nearly $70,000 after being tricked by fraudsters pretending to work at Scotiabank.

About a month ago, the couple on Hamilton Mountain had their bank accounts emptied, credit cards wracked up, and their line of credit drained all in a matter of hours.

This was done by someone they believed worked at Scotiabank, who they thought was trying to help them with their debit cards, that he said had been compromised.

On June 23, 63-year-old Leanne Neadles said she received a phone call that ruined her life.

“We’ve been going through a fraud scam from the Scotiabank,” said Neadles. “I had a person call from Scotiabank give me his ID number, gave me a case number and said my cards were compromised.”

Then the man, whose number showed up as “Scotiabank” on Neadle’s phone, told her that he would send a courier to pick up her debit and visa cards, and promised to send new cards within 24 hours.

“The next day, I noticed a lot of transactions went through,” said Neadles.

“I went to the bank to close the cards – they were supposed to have been closed. The next day I noticed more transactions. I went back to the bank and within two days they had drained our bank accounts, credit cards, and our line of credit,” said Neadles.

With almost $70,000 gone, Neadles and her husband, both disabled seniors, have a lot of questions for Scotiabank.

“Large amounts of money were coming out of the bank account,” said Neadles. “I don’t understand how, when there’s a $400 a day limit on it.”

“Within two days, they totally drained us of everything, we are completely broke,” said Neadles.

The couple launched a complaint with Scotiabank’s fraud department, but were sent a letter that said that they were responsible for the transactions.

“Based on our investigation of your claim, we are unable to find any indication that your account was compromised. As a result, you are responsible for these transactions, which will remain debited to your account,” reads the statement.”

“You have provided your card, account, PIN or password to someone that was not authorized to use your account,” said something?

The Hamilton Police Financial Crimes Unit said they’ve seen about 60 similar cases already this year, and the technique the fraudster used to get the information is called Social Engineering.

“They convince you to provide them the info,” said Det. Sgt. Rob Hardy with Hamilton Police. “Often what they’ll do is find out what the first four numbers of a Scotiabank card is – the way they talk makes you think they know what your bank card number is – then through conversation they’ll draw out more information from you.”

Officers admit, once the money is gone, it’s gone.

They say the chances of getting money back from any fraud is slim, and that people need to guard their money at the highest level.

“The police are not able to get your money back in any timely fashion,” said Hardy. “We occasionally do, but it’s extremely rare.”

“We’re financially devastated – we don’t have a penny,” said Neadles. “We used to be able to go out and now we can’t. I can’t pay the mortgage, bills…I don’t know what the outcome of this is going to be.”

They say this type of fraud is not exclusive to just Scotiabank.

Scotiabank told CHCH News that they take cases of fraud seriously, and continue to educate clients to never share passwords, PINs or account access with any individual.

The bank also says it will never send a courier to clients’ homes to pick up debit or credit cards.

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