Scam hacking your accounts

Photo: Contributed

There is a new scam separating Canadians from their money and it is a lot more concerning than an email from a Nigerian prince or a random call from a person claiming to be from the Canada Revenue Agency. 

Manessah Burkitt and her husband Jason were curled up watching a movie on the couch when she received a call from a representative from her bank. 

The person on the other end of the line, asked if they had made any large e-transfers lately — to that question, the Vernon couple answered 'no'. 

They were informed that a sizable e-transfer from their bank account was made to an IP address in Montreal. The news caught the couple by complete surprise.

The bank was able to flag the IP address and the e-transfer as suspicious, and quickly contacted the couple to verify whether or not the transfer was legit.

Burkitt says they will get their money back, but they want to share their story to warn others that this a very real, and scary scam. 

"It is scary. It is really scary to know that somebody can e-mail transfer from your account to themselves and you have no clue."

Burkitt has nothing but praise for the bank (RBC) and the action they took to inform her and her husband about the transfer, and retrieve their money. But admits they were lucky. If the bank wasn't on the ball, this scammer may have gotten away with it.

"Our monthly payments for rent are $1,600. So, it is likely they disguised the transfer like a rent payment coming out."

Burkitt asked the bank how this may have happened and they were told that the scammer may have gained access to their account if the couple was doing any online banking over an unsecured wifi network, or the couple's internet settings weren't updated on their phones, or if the couple uses the same password for multiple accounts. All of which, Burkitt says they avoid doing.

They don't use the same password for everything, and they always use capitals, numbers and different characters. And they never use an unsecured network, because, as Burkitt puts it "that is playing with fire."

"I did everything the bank suggests to be safe. We did it all, and it still didn't matter."

Burkitt asked the bank if this could be the work of an employee and was told that was not likely and was assured that if this was a bank employee they would be caught, investigated and fired. 

The couple did some research and found similar stories of a scam like this happening in other parts of the country. While this scam may not be as widely known as other scams, it is still out there targeting Canadian bank accounts.