Bank investigator scam took $1 million from Manitobans in 2019, police say

Winnipeg police are trying to help people affected by the Bank Investigator Scam of 2019 — which they called the worst scam in Manitoba history — as they launch Fraud Prevention Month.

Nearly 1,100 people reported being victims of the bank investigator scam, which cost Canadians $3.2 million collectively in 2019, say statistics from the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, a federal agency that collects and shares information on fraud and identity theft.

And $1 million of that sum came out of Manitobans' pockets, police said.

"We'd like to put a dent in that, which is why we made [the bank investigator scam] our top priority this year," Mike Streilein, a detective in the WPS' financial crimes unit, told reporters Monday.

Victims of the bank investigator scam receive calls about suspicious transactions on their bank or credit card statements.

They are told to hang up and immediately call the toll-free number on the back of their card to verify the validity of the initial call.

But when the person hangs up and dials, the fraud caller, who has not hung up, poses as a bank investigator.

The "investigator" will then ask the victim to help by removing money from their account and sending it to the fraudster in various ways. This includes asking the victim to send all of their money to someone else's account for security reasons.

This works on landlines, which is why senior citizens are often victims, Streilein said; if one of the parties on a landline phone call does not hang up, the connection is not lost right away.

Streilein is surprised by how effective the scam was in Manitoba, and said scams like this are having a greater impact in recent years.

Statistics gathered by the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre say losses that went from zero in 2017, to $57,000 in 2018, to $1 million in 2019.

This sort of success for the fraudsters means Manitoba will continue to be targeted, he said.

"Fraudsters, they follow trends, so if something's working, they're going to keep doing that," Streilein said.

"Maybe they've had victims from the 204 and 431 area codes fall for this scam, then they continue redialing those numbers."

Winnipeg police remind people that financial institutions will never ask that you transfer funds to someone else's account, and to be wary of early morning calls from people posing as bank investigators, as fraudsters try to catch victims when they're not fully alert.

People should not fully trust their phone's caller ID because fraudsters use call-spoofing technology to disguise themselves, Streilen also said.

People who receive a call they believe to be part of a scam but do not suffer a loss should still phone the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, he said.

Anyone who fell victim should contact police.

The Winnipeg Police Service will participate in various events during Fraud Prevention Month, including the seventh annual Shred It event later this month. People can shred their sensitive documents from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., March 26, in the parking lots of both the St. Vital Centre and Polo Park.