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A new variant of a common scam involving bank inspectors is circulating in Ontario.

According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, bank investigator scams usually involve a caller asking for help tracking down a bank employee who is stealing money or claiming to help you resolve suspicious transactions in your bank account.

Fraudsters convince victims to send an e-transfer to their own mobile number. The scammer will provide instructions on how to add them as a beneficiary and increase their e-transfer limit to $10,000. The scammer provides the e-transfer question and answer.

Once the victim sends the e-transfer, the fraudster asks for the code or the last part of the e-transfer link. This link is the information the scammer needs to deposit the money into his account instead of the victim’s.

A new variation on this scam is an automated phone call claiming to be from a bank or the police, or in some cases, Amazon. The message in the call tells the victim that fraudulent transactions have been made on their account. The fraudsters request access to the victim’s computer to “investigate.”

The victim is then shown a fraudulent transaction on his/her online bank account.

In some cases, fraudsters add the victim as a “beneficiary” with a fraudulent email address and tell the victim that they have deposited money into the victim’s account, but in reality the money is being transferred from the victim’s line of credit or savings account.

The scammer may have the victim’s debit card number and password, but cannot access the account due to multi-factor authentication security. The scammer will then trick the victim into providing the multi-factor code to confirm their identity.

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre reminds people that neither they nor the police will ask people to wire money or make a payment of any kind.

For more information about this scam, visit the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre website here.

The CAFC wants to warn Canadians about a new variant of the bank investigation fraud. Fraudsters are posing as financial institutions and claiming that the victim’s bank account has been compromised. For more information: https://t.co/EU5X4pitBz #BeScamSmart photo.twitter.com/LeFJsFeebb

— Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (@canantifraud) August 23, 2024

Main photo: Karolina Kaboompics

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