A Brossard man has been trying in vain since last November to get $18,450 reimbursed by TD, lost at the hands of a fraudster who pretended to be a customer service agent from the bank.
“The interest keeps going up because they don’t want to make a deal, because I’ve always made payments. So, we’re waiting for me to be really in trouble, and then we can help me?” asks Marc-Émile Duquette, discouraged.
On October 20, the 44-year-old joint-shooter reported a fraudulent transaction for $919.80 on his TD credit card. The institution’s representative indicated that an investigation would be opened and that Mr. Duquette would be recalled.
A month later, a TD employee called Mr. Duquette to confirm that the amount would be credited to him and that a new credit card would be sent to him.
He was expecting a call from TD
The day after this communication, while Mr. Duquette was at work, he received another call from someone claiming to work for TD. He is then informed that other suspicious transactions are in progress on his account and that there seems to have been identity theft, because fraudsters would have tried to obtain a line of credit of $20,000 in his name at CIBC, in addition to having opened a now negative bitcoin account.
At the end of the line, pressure is put on Mr. Duquette to take care of the situation quickly, because other customers have experienced similar events and had to pay the amount of the debt, not having act soon enough.
Marc-Émile Duquette is then invited to go to a TD branch and it is argued that his help will be invaluable in stopping the fraudsters in action. It is then that he falls into a trap, because he is not online with the TD, but with an unscrupulous manipulator.
“Because this person was already aware of the previous fraud on my account, I let my guard down,” regrets Mr. Duquette.
Marc-Émile Duquette used a lawyer to help him get a refund from TD.
PHOTO QMI AGENCY, MARIO BEAUREGARD
Fallen into the trap
Mr. Duquette expected to speak to an employee in the branch, but he was asked to be subtle. He is told that money will be put back into his account so that it can then be used to reset the bitcoin account to zero, which will allow the fraudsters to be traced. He is asked for his password and Mr. Duquette is worried, but he is offered convincing arguments. He executes the instructions given and withdraws as much as possible from his line of credit and his credit card, to then go to a bitcoin counter where he must deposit the money.
Shortly after, Marc-Émile Duquette realized he had lost $18,450 and reported the fraud to his bank, then filed a complaint with the Longueuil police. He then took many steps, hoping for a refund.
“I got burned and ended up putting it in the hands of a lawyer,” he says.
But the formal notice sent in May had no positive effect.
Ongoing investigation
TD, through the voice of its spokesperson, indicates “understanding how painful the situation must be” for its client, without being able to give details on a specific file. She claims to be in direct contact with Mr. Duquette and that an investigation is still active.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Center recommends that you never give out personal information when making unsolicited calls. In the case of Mr. Duquette, his lawyer Hélène Blanchard pleads that he would never have lowered his guard, if it were not for the first fraud and the communications which followed with TD.