He was scammed $16K from his BMO line of credit. The bank is charging him interest anyway
CBC
James Mathelier says he's had many sleepless nights in the past four months after falling prey to a costly phone scam.
Now, out thousands of dollars, the Toronto man is speaking out, saying his bank didn't do enough to protect him and is even charging interest on the funds he lost from his line of credit.
On April 24, the 63-year-old says he answered a call from a man claiming to be a Bank of Montreal employee, warning him that fraudsters had accessed his bank account. The phone number matched his bank's, making it seem legitimate.
The caller then asked for a verification code which was sent to Mathelier's phone, supposedly to confirm his identity.
"I knew I shouldn't share codes over the phone, but he offered for me to call the bank back to continue this process. He said we had to act quickly because money was being withdrawn," Mathelier told Radio-Canada.
"I was panicking."
After sharing this code, three withdrawals were made from his personal line of credit: $7,500 and $1,452.72 that day, and another $7,500 the next day. "It's been impacting my mental health. I can barely sleep," Mathelier said.
Mathelier says he contacted BMO and police days later in hopes of recovering the funds. Toronto police confirmed a report has been filed and is being "actively investigated," but did not share further details.
On May 11, the Bank of Montreal issued Mathelier a refund for the smallest of the amounts withdrawn, but not for the other two.
"Please note that this is a scam, which unfortunately is not covered by our fraud services; therefore, the Bank of Montreal is not responsible for the loss incurred," BMO said in a July 5th email to Mathelier seen by Radio-Canada.
Mathelier says he was "baffled" that the financial institution would choose to cover a portion of the stolen funds if it denied all responsibility.
"I asked them, 'Why reimburse $1,452.72, and not the remaining $15,000?' It doesn't make any sense."
Radio-Canada asked BMO that same question, but the bank refused to comment, saying it is committed to the confidentiality of its clients.
Financial crime expert Vanessa Iafolla says by issuing a partial refund, the bank acknowledges some responsibility in the matter.
