Beware of Bank Investigator Scam
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre would like to warn Canadians about an increase in reporting related to the “bank investigator” scam. Fraudsters are impersonating financial institutions, law enforcement, Amazon and credit reporting agencies claiming that the victim’s bank account has been compromised.
In some cases, suspects provide some of the victim’s personal information which might include name, date of birth, phone number, address, Social Insurance Number (SIN) and debit card number to make the call seem legitimate. Additionally, suspects are spoofing financial institutions, law enforcement and credit reporting agencies’ phone numbers or are providing fraudulent call-back phone numbers which impersonate the institutions.
Current variations of the bank investigator scam:
- Victims receive an automated phone call claiming to be their financial institution, law enforcement, credit reporting agency (Equifax® Canada or Transunion) or, in some cases, Amazon advising that there have been fraudulent transactions in their account. Fraudsters will request access to the victims’ computer or device to continue the “investigation”. Victims are then shown a fraudulent transaction on their online bank account. The suspects state that they want the victims’ help in an ongoing “investigation” against the criminals who stole their money and request that the victims send funds as part of the “investigation”.
In some cases, fraudsters will add the victim as a “payee” with a fraudulent email address and advise that the victim must transfer a large amount of money in order to protect their account. The fraudsters will convince the victim that they have added funds to the victim’s account but, in reality, the funds were transferred from their line of credit or savings account.
2. Suspects may have the victim’s debit card number and password but cannot access the victim’s account due to multi-factor authentication protection on their account. Suspects then proceed to contact the victim claiming to be their financial institution and will advise the victim that they must provide a code they receive via text message or email in order to confirm their identity. The code the victim provides is the multi-factor authentication code which gives the suspects full access to their bank account.
- Suspects will advise that they are required to retrieve the victim’s debit or credit card from their residence as part of the investigation. Suspects will attend the victim’s residence to pick up the card and they may even ask the victim to cut the card in half without damaging the card chip to make the call seem more legitimate. They may also threaten victims that they may be arrested if they do not cooperate.
Anyone who suspects they have been the victim of cybercrime or fraud should report it to their local police and to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre’s online reporting system or by phone at 1-888-495-8501.
If not a victim, you should still report the incident to the CAFC.
