Alberta BMO account holder faces responsibility for nearly $10,000 vanishing from her account.
A woman in Alberta is facing the task of repaying nearly $10,000, along with accrued interest, following the unauthorized depletion of her line of credit and subsequent transfer of funds from her Bank of Montreal account. Charlene MacNeil, aged 37, was alarmed to receive a credit limit alert email on the evening of August 28, indicating that she had only $33 of available credit left on her $15,000 line of credit with BMO.
Upon checking her account, MacNeil discovered a significant sum missing and promptly contacted the bank’s corporate hotline to report the incident. The following morning, at her local branch in Tofield, Alta., she was informed that $10,300 had been transferred from her line of credit to her chequing account. Subsequently, $9,702 was sent from her chequing account to an unfamiliar bill payee.
Despite BMO conducting an investigation into the transactions, they have declined to reimburse MacNeil for the missing amount. Consequently, she is now obligated to repay the sum, along with an interest rate of 10.8 percent.
The experience has had a psychological impact on her, eroding her confidence in banks and causing her to feel unfairly stigmatized, despite having committed no wrongdoing. Charlene MacNeil resides on a farm in close proximity to the central Alberta town of Tofield and has maintained a banking relationship with BMO since her childhood. Up until this incident, she had never harbored concerns about the security of her accounts, as she believed she had been diligent in safeguarding her personal information.
A few days after initially reporting the incident, MacNeil had a phone conversation with a bank representative who informed her that BMO had chosen not to reimburse her for the amount. However, she was advised to escalate her case to the customer complaint appeal office. Following the bank’s suggestion, she reported the incident to the RCMP and had her phone wiped as a precaution against potential viruses. MacNeil provided evidence of both actions to the bank.
RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Troy Savinkoff stated that Camrose RCMP is actively investigating a fraud report filed on September 1, involving an amount between $5,000 and $10,000.
BMO spokesperson Jeff Roman explained that the bank cannot disclose specific details of the customer’s case due to the high priority placed on customer confidentiality. He recommended CBC News review the investigation outcome letter sent to the customer, stating that it contains essential information regarding the situation.
MacNeil disclosed the letter dated October 10 to CBC News. According to the letter, the device utilized to access her bank account prompted a one-time passcode, which was sent via text to her phone number, successfully received, and entered.
“If you were not the one who input your bank card number, secret online banking password and the one-time passcode, then either you somehow disclosed this information, or one of your devices (computer, cellphone) may have been compromised to allow someone to gain access to this information,” wrote senior investigator Gary Jasper.
In the letter, he emphasized that safeguarding MacNeil’s bank card number, passwords, passcodes, and devices fell under her responsibility, not the bank’s.
MacNeil clarified that she exclusively uses her phone for logging into online banking. She has no recollection of receiving a two-factor authentication code on that particular day and had not shared her password with anyone, including her husband. She speculates whether her phone may have been compromised during a work trip to a conference in Las Vegas.
Following this, the branch manager at BMO’s Tofield location verbally proposed reimbursing her $500. Despite this, MacNeil remains hopeful of recovering the full amount and has submitted a complaint to the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI), a dispute resolution service.
