Bank investigator scam affecting residents of Oakville, Milton, Burlington

Halton police are warning people in Burlington, Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills about a new fraud that is going around.

Over the past few months, police have seen an increase in a new variation of the bank investigator scam, where fraud suspects are contacting unsuspecting victims from fraudulent phone numbers advising they are from a financial institution.

The scam starts with the victim receiving a telephone call from the suspect portraying that they are a bank employee and alerting them a fraud has been detected on their personal account.

The suspect instructs the victim to protect themselves by using their mobile banking app to send a maximum amount e-transfer to themselves to max their bank limit.

When the victim e-transfers the funds to themselves, they are asked to provide a URL/link to the suspect which allows the funds to be diverted from the victims account to the suspect.

In some cases, suspects are able to provide some of the victim’s personal information, which might include name, date of birth, phone number, address and debit card number, to make the call seem legitimate.

Suspects will often provide the first four numbers of a debit or credit card to try and prove legitimacy. Remember that most debit and credit card numbers with specific financial institutions begin with the same four numbers.

Financial institutions will never ask for assistance from the public for internal investigations. Criminals use call-spoofing to mislead victims. Do not assume that phone numbers appearing on your call display are accurate.

If you get an incoming call claiming to be from your financial institution, advise the caller that you will call them back. End the call and dial the number on the back of your bank debit card from a different phone if possible or wait 10 minutes before making the outgoing call or visit your branch in person.

Some other things to remember to protect yourself from fraud:

• Never click on payment links received via text message or email by fraudsters.
• Never provide details of links or URLs received via email or text message to anyone, and never provide codes received via text or email, as these can provide fraudsters with access to your account.
• Financial institutions will never ask you to transfer money to an external account.
• Don’t share codes received via text message or email with anyone. In most cases, these are multi-factor authentication codes that will give fraudsters access to your account.
• Never provide remote access to your device to unknown callers.
• Never provide personal or financial information over the phone unless you called your financial institution.
• Check your bank statement frequently and report any irregularities to your bank as soon as you notice them.

If you have been the victim of fraud, call the Halton Regional Police Service non-emergency line at 905-825-4777, the Financial Crimes Unit – Intake Office at 905-465-8741 or contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501.