Online banking fraud leaves Winnipeg woman on hook for $174K debt

A Winnipeg woman is warning others about what can go wrong in online banking after a credit union is holding her responsible for a debt of more than $174,000 from fraudulent transactions.

Linda Klassen and her husband, Rudy, used their home computer for online banking, but in May 2024, someone hacked into the laptop, taking control of the computer and the Klassens' email account, she says.

Fraudulent transactions were made through their accounts at Access Credit Union and Steinbach Credit Union. Another fraud attempt involving an investment account affiliated with a bank didn’t go through, Klassen said. 

One or more unknown fraudsters put the fraudulent transactions through between May 16 and May 27, 2024.

"It's life-altering, really … when you think that your financial management is very secure, and you follow all the rules, and you've done everything as you were instructed to do," Klassen, 78, said in an interview.

"You feel violated and vulnerable. And it would be comparable to somebody breaking into your home and taking what belongs to you," said Klassen, whose husband was undergoing cancer treatment at the time and has since died.

The fraudulent transactions happened first at Access Credit Union, where two $50,000 bogus cheques were deposited remotely into the Klassens' account by a fraudster. The money was then transferred to fraudulent payees.

Klassen says Access covered that loss and didn’t hold the couple responsible for the money. 

Four fraudulent cheques, totalling $292,000, were deposited into the Klassens' Steinbach Credit Union account through their online banking platform from May 22-24, 2024.

The fraudster then used the money for a series of fraudulent online bill payments to unapproved recipients, creating a large overdraft in the account.

When the fraudulent cheques were initially deposited, there was a balance of only $6.86 in the Steinbach chequing account, because the Klassens weren’t using it for their regular ongoing banking activity.

The credit union was able to recover more than $117,000 of the funds, which included $25,000 from an insurance claim and over $92,000 through its efforts to trace and recover the money.

But the Klassens' account was left more than $174,000 in the red.

Klassen eventually filed a lawsuit against Steinbach Credit Union in July 2025, seeking three times the outstanding amount plus other damages.