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![\"RUTH](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4113038_web1_260326-TD-Bank-Scam--.jpg\")
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RUTH BONNEVILLE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
Lisa Taron with photocopies of the 21 fake cheques used in an ATM to steal money from her bank account.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis left me crushed. No money for rent, food, medication, bus pass. I had to borrow money from my 91-year-old mother who keeps asking me, now, when she is getting her money back. What would I have done without the bank of mom?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShame on TD. Why didn\u2019t the bank shut it down the moment I called?\u201d<\/p>\n
Taron admits she was flustered and caught off guard on Feb. 12, when, after just arriving home from a trip to the grocery store, her phone rang with the call display showing it was her bank calling.<\/p>\n
She said the caller sounded professional, saying they were with the bank\u2019s fraud department and were calling her about suspicious activity in her account.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said we just flagged a $93 fund purchase \u2014 I said it wasn\u2019t me,\u201d Taron said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe put me on hold \u2014 the hold music was exactly the one used by the bank \u2014 and he came back and told me the last cheque deposited in my account was from (my mother). How would he have known that if it wasn\u2019t my bank? He then said there was a charge with Air Canada. I said I didn\u2019t make that, and then he put me on hold again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was on hold so long that I started to get suspicious, hung up, and phoned my bank. That\u2019s when they said there had been a breach (of my account).\u201d<\/p>\n
Taron said she lost more than $2,500 through a quick succession of $93 withdrawals from her account.<\/p>\n
But she said the fraudsters also used mobile banking to deposit the same $100 cheque \u2014 made out to a Roy Scott from a car dealership in Carman \u2014 into her account 21 times.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of them bounced, but they got another $2,100 that way. Where is TD\u2019s diligence and their duty of care? Why doesn\u2019t the bank have some sort of software that catches blatant scammy transactions like this?\u201d Taron said.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the car dealership confirmed the cheques didn\u2019t come from them.<\/p>\n
Taron insists she never gave the caller her bank account number or PIN, but she did receive a text message at one point from the bank, which she replied with the word \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vanessa Iafolla, a national expert on fraud as a principal at the Halifax-based Anti-Fraud Intelligence Consulting, said Canadians need to be vigilant because scammers are professionals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are very good at making things as realistic as they can be,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But while Iafolla can understand how the scammers were able to make several withdrawals from Taron\u2019s account, she doesn\u2019t know how they were able to deposit so many cheques to withdraw funds from them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m confused how it got past the system. The system is supposed to stop it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
More needs to be done by banks and cellphone service providers to make it harder for criminals to scam people out of money, Iafolla said.<\/p>\n
Mick Ramos, a TD Bank Group spokesman, said he couldn\u2019t comment on Taron\u2019s case.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re sorry to hear about Ms. Taron\u2019s situation and understand it can be distressing to be a victim of fraud. Please remember, if you receive a suspicious call or text from someone claiming to be your bank, verify it by calling the number on the back of your card. Caller ID can be faked,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ramos added that banks will never contact their customers to ask for the numbers in a one-time pass code sent to a mobile device or through email.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t share this code with anyone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Ethan Teclu, a spokesman for the Canadian Bank Association, said banks in Canada are dedicated to protecting customers from financial fraud and theft.<\/p>\n
The federal government has mandated that when cheques are deposited, banks have to allow an immediate $100 withdrawal from them, Teclu said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBanks take many steps to protect clients from potential fraud while balancing their responsibility to follow our clients\u2019 instructions for access and use of their money,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Nadine Legare, a spokeswoman for the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, said legislation is currently going through that will raise the amount that can be withdrawn immediately from $100 to $250.<\/p>\n
But Legare said banks are expected to have controls in place to help detect fraud.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\tSunday Passages<\/p>\n
Sundays<\/p>\n
Kevin Rollason\u2019s Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba.<\/p>\n
\t\t\tSign up for Sunday Passages<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \u201cIf a bank has reasonable grounds to believe a cheque deposit is being made for illegal or fraudulent purposes, it does not have to make the first $100 available right away,\u201d Legare said.<\/p>\n As for Taron, she has appealed the matter to the bank and is considering going to small claims court.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m now on a mission to warn others and seek justice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cLuckily, I have the bank of mom or this would have been absolutely devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Kevin Rollason Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until\u00a01988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press\u2019s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Reporter
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