Upset, Monique Proulx no longer answers the phone. Fraudsters allegedly defrauded her of $6,000 by recording her words on the other end of the line. All from a simple “yes, hello?” “.
Published at 5:00 a.m.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Center recommends against answering the phone using this formula after several citizens reported thefts. “A few years ago, we received a lot of reports of calls where fraudsters potentially recorded the name or “yes” of victims,” explains customer awareness agent Lisanne Roy Beauchamp.
These individuals would have managed to reuse this recorded word to approve credit applications, accept subscription offers over the phone and even access bank accounts.
Monique Proulx would have been the victim of this usurpation technique. Like many people, she used to use the expression “yes, hello?” » while answering the phone.
But in July, she noticed that three Interac transfers had been made from her bank account. Three transactions totaling $6,000 at the National Bank, sent to the cryptocurrency transfer company Coinsdrom, of which she was unaware.
“The bank quickly asked me if I had answered calls whose origin I did not know,” says the Gatinoise.
They criticized me for using the words “yes, hello,” and told me to just say “hello” in the future, or to let the caller speak first.
Monique Proulx
Contacted by The Pressthe National Bank refused to comment on Monique Proulx’s file “for reasons of confidentiality”.
Voice recognition “increasingly used”
If the institution does not warn its clients about the use of “yes, hello?” » on his website, others do. Desjardins asks its members to “be careful” when saying these words.
The iA Financial Group recommends avoiding using the words “yes” or “no” in a telephone conversation with a stranger. As voice recognition is “increasingly sophisticated and used, criminals could use the recording of your voice to steal your identity. Instead, respond with full sentences that are unusable in such maneuvers,” the company suggests.
When possible, it is best not to answer calls from unknown numbers, says the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center.
The watchword is the same within the financial institutions consulted by The Press. “If fraudsters use artificial intelligence, they only need a recording of three to five seconds to create an impression of your voice,” recalls the communications department of the Laurentian Bank.
Answering scam calls confirms that your phone number is active. This gives scammers the opportunity to sell you their story and trick you into becoming a victim of fraud.
Lisanne Roy Beauchamp, customer awareness officer at the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center
However, some people do not have the luxury of ignoring calls of unknown origin. A delivery girl for a bakery, Monique Proulx sometimes receives calls from customers whom she has not registered among her contacts.
In July, she received around fifty calls from unknown numbers per day. She rarely responded to them, when she thought it was a real customer.
As it was impossible to prove that she was not the one who made the cryptocurrency transfers, the National Bank allegedly refused to reimburse Monique Proulx. He was simply suggested to file a complaint with the police.
“I was told I was the 50e no one who came to the station this week, and there was nothing they could do to help me,” she laments.
The City of Gatineau Police Department confirms that it has no file mentioning the case of Monique Proulx.
Financial anxiety
The fraud suffered by Monique Proulx was reportedly under study at the National Bank until last week. His file was reportedly closed for lack of evidence. Since then, Mme Proulx experiences a lot of financial anxiety. The 64-year-old was planning to reduce her working hours over the coming weeks and retire in December. But that won't happen.
“For the bank, $6,000 is not the end of the world. But it is for me,” confesses Mme Proulx, in tears.
The money that was withdrawn from his account came mainly from an inheritance obtained after the death of his mother.
I look at the photo of my mother, and I feel guilty. She managed to leave me some money, and I wasn't able to protect it.
Monique Proulx
In this type of fraud, banks often struggle to adequately protect their customers, recalls David Décary-Hétu, professor at the School of Criminology at the University of Montreal.
“It is not the victims who should be doubted, but the banking tools who are fooled by voice imitation tools,” he comments. It's unusual that a bank doesn't question it when a woman, who sends little or no money by Interac transfer, sends three transfers in two days. »
From January to September 2024, nearly 7,000 reports of telephone fraud were made to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center, for a total of more than $45.5 million.
No evidence
Although it considers fraud by recording telephone conversations “possible”, the SPVM has never collected proof of its existence. “This is something we've been hearing about for a while, but is it real, or just an urban legend? I can’t confirm that,” comments the commander of the economic crimes section of the SPVM, Steve Belzil. The Gatineau police “do not rule out” the existence of this technique, but doubt it. “From our experience in fraud, we are convinced that it takes much more than the voice recording of a person saying “yes” to succeed in emptying their bank accounts or stealing their identity,” assures his spokesperson Patrick Kenney. When a complaint is filed with the police, it remains very difficult for investigators to find the fraudsters, as they constantly change their SIM cards. If you are the victim of telephone fraud, it is very unlikely that you will be able to recover your money, emphasize the Gatineau police. “It is still important to file a complaint […] with your local police department so that the fraudsters can answer for their actions in court,” said Patrick Kenney.
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