Yet Another Wire-Transfer Fraud Case ! :-( | Your stories | Discussion forum

Such frauds have always been happening. Just more victims now brave enough to tell their story to the media.

The bank or credit union cannot do much. Doesn't matter if the transaction is out of the ordinary. If I want to wire $100,000 of my savings to a woman in Nigeria one day, I can tell the branch staff it's my money and none of their nosy business how I met her. 🙁

The “company” which defrauded him has done it before.

Surprised RBC allowed them to continue operate the account.

https://www.biv.com/news/economy-law-politics/whos-getting-sued-january-9-2023-8270087

No sympathy from me if someone is dumb enough to trust a complete stranger with their life long retirement savings.
And even worse cuz it’s “extra bit of yield” that attracted him.
Scammer / fraudsters always succeed when the target is greedy….

One didn't need hindsight to spot the scam reported. Just like one didn't need hindsight to spot that GIC Trust scam discussed earlier.

I wouldn't have fallen for that "older Canada Savings Bond issue" malarkey. Federal government discontinued the Canada Savings Bond program years ago. All outstanding CSB's matured in 2021 and have stopped earning any interest since.

The provincial securities regulators publish a registry of registered investment professionals. Registry includes name, type of registration, and employer contact info. A call to the senior investment counsellor's listed office at BMO to confirm would have alerted everyone to the impersonation.

Wiring funds for a BMO investment purchase to an RBC bank account in the name of B21 Trade (Canada). Really? Why wouldn't an investment counsellor with BMO be using a BMO bank account in the name of something like BMO Nesbitt Burns or BMO Private Investment Counsel?

Just because I'm not 100% at fault for being scammed and losing money doesn't mean I'm 0% responsible.

Norman1 said

Just because I'm not 100% at fault for being scammed and losing money doesn't mean I'm 0% responsible.  

To my eyes, the victim is 100% at fault, 100% responsible. Can’t always just claim ‘I am dumb’ and expect others to clean up the ‘mess’ of one’s wrong doing.
The scam described is not even sophisticated, its kindergarten level at best.

Alexandre said

mordko said
... when an unfamiliar “senior account manager” calls you out of the blue ...

Do people on this forum often get cold calls from "investment portfolio managers?"

The story sounds like inside job: some employee at FI collects info from calls to FI about investments, passes that info to bad actors.  

Possible but for all we know there may have been something on social media or a local/industry publication may have announced that this guy was about to retire.

I am still curious how RBC opened and maintained a business account for this thief. Normally they ask a lot of questions, verify business activities, check out owners in face to face meetings, etc.

savemoresaveoften said

To my eyes, the victim is 100% at fault, 100% responsible. Can’t always just claim ‘I am dumb’ and expect others to clean up the ‘mess’ of one’s wrong doing.
The scam described is not even sophisticated, its kindergarten level at best.  

Really???? A victim is a victim... they did not invite the scam. The scam would not have ever happened if not for the scammer.

Could the victim have protected themself? Maybe. BUT that does NOT make the victim responsible. Scams happen because they take advantage of people's weakness, even greed. Can a victim be foolish, even wrong in some way? Absolutely! BUT the culprit is STILL the perpetrator.

savemoresaveoften said To my eyes, the victim is 100% at fault, 100% responsible. Can’t always just claim ‘I am dumb’ and expect others to clean up the ‘mess’ of one’s wrong doing.
The scam described is not even sophisticated, its kindergarten level at best.  

I suspect that we have all, at one time or another, fallen victim to a scam. I fell for a small one and lost a few hundred dollars, 30 years ago.

However, anyone who gives money to someone pretending to be homeless and panhandling on the road is likely a scam victim. The ones I see are fakirs, who arrive by bus or walk from their homes out to the nearest corner to perpetrate their fraud. I even have some of their house addresses. So, to all those who give, you are probably a victim.

smayer97 said

Really???? A victim is a victim... they did not invite the scam. The scam would not have ever happened if not for the scammer.

Could the victim have protected themself? Maybe. BUT that does NOT make the victim responsible. Scams happen because they take advantage of people's weakness, even greed. Can a victim be foolish, even wrong in some way? Absolutely! BUT the culprit is STILL the perpetrator.  

I was a victim a long time ago and gave a guy $10 who claimed to be a local artist and starving, and then saw him went to buy a pack of cigarette. Is it my fault that I am now short $10 ? Totally. Should I be 100% responsible ? Totally cuz its not like he put a gun to my head that I "have" to pay.

I never accept or follow instructions from anyone or anything that contacts ME with financial advice. Except, of course, if I'm bored and want to have some fun wasting their time. I often use the delay to research their scam or the entities they're impersonating or imitating.

In a recent case, a scammer called me three times, twice after I flat hung up on him. Then I told him he'd called from three different spoofed numbers, none of them with a phone exchange prefix one could have in Ottawa. The light finally dawned on him.

Yes, I'm retired, have no family and sometimes don't have anything better to do after business hours.