Wave of fraud at Laurentian

A wave of identity theft and financial fraud has affected the Laurentian Bank and part of its customers for a year and a half.

Using various subterfuges, apparently organized criminals managed to steal tens of thousands of dollars from several dozen clients of the Montreal financial institution.

Although the bank called on the economic crimes division of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) last March, no suspect has yet been arrested and everything indicates that the scam continues to this day.

The fraudsters were able to complete transactions in the accounts of at least 27 customers totaling a loss in excess of $165,000, says an affidavit obtained by The Press.

It is explained that without the intervention of the bank’s security experts, losses of several hundred thousand dollars could have been added to the losses suffered so far. Actions taken by the bank aimed at blocking transactions attempted by fraudsters would thus have avoided increasing losses.

The schemes developed by the bandits seem obviously planned.

The affidavit states that the fraudsters manage to take control of their victims’ banking products in order to conclude transactions.

For example, they make purchases on credit cards, bill payments and Interac transfers after accessing customer online portals, such as the bank’s BLC Direct portal and the Financial portal. Brim, a Toronto-based financial technology company and credit card issuer associated with Laurentian.

To achieve their goals, the scammers manage to take control of the victim’s email account in order to connect to a portal by changing the password.

The bandits succeed in extracting personal information from a customer following the sending of “compromising” text messages or emails, or even using fraudulent calls. The criminals also manage to impersonate customers at the bank’s call center.

An internal investigation carried out by security managers at the Laurentian Bank notes that for more than 50 customers, more than 180 calls were made to the financial institution’s call center by the same suspect (unidentified, but whose voice is recognized) which usurps the identity of the victims. It is also noted that these scam calls often came from the same phone numbers.

No arrest

The document obtained by The Press underlines that the fraudsters were thus able to gain access to the banking products of at least 53 customers, but the affidavit does not further specify the different techniques used by the bandits.

The SPVM indicates to The Press that his investigation is still ongoing and that no arrests have been made “at this time”. Since the investigation continues, the SPVM says it is not able to say more or answer other questions related to this case.

At the Laurentian Bank, management says it cannot comment on the matter so as not to harm the police investigation which is ongoing. The spokesperson for the organization, Frédérique Lavoie-Gamache, emphasizes, however, that the victims, in this specific case, were all contacted and reimbursed.

“Laurentian Bank is committed to ensuring the security and confidentiality of all personal information it receives,” she adds.

“Our online transactional environment is secured by protection mechanisms that meet the highest industry standards and our security experts work to prevent and detect different forms of fraud, to ensure the safety of all our customers. »

As a financial institution, Laurentian Bank indicates in its corporate documents that it is de facto the target of different types of fraud, theft and other forms of financial crimes. “The sophistication, complexity and importance of these crimes are evolving rapidly and their perpetrators can take on diverse faces,” it said.