BARRHEAD – An Alberta couple, Fred and Ronali DeBock were devastated when they were robbed of $45,000, all taken out of their ATB bank account without their permission in October 2024.
The DeBocks used every channel they could to find out who took their money and how to get it back.
After months of investigation by the ATB bank the situation has been concluded.
The ATB has paid out $18,000 and cleared $1000 worth of service fees.
“Well, I only have a bruised tailbone instead of a broken one,” said Fred DeBock.
Lawyers have advised the DeBocks that legal action is not worth pursuing.
The ordeal began on the evening of Oct. 25, 2024, when the DeBocks logged into their ATB financial account to pay a bill.
They immediately noticed a suspicious e-transfer of $7,800 to an unknown name.
By the time they returned home later that night their account had been hit by six more transfers each just under $8000.
In a matter of hours over $45,000 had been stolen.
Despite immediately freezing their account and meeting with a bank representative the next day the request for reimbursement was denied.
A letter from ATB financial dated Feb. 24 stated that because the fraudulent transfers were completed using the correct login credentials, password, and a one-time mobile password the bank considered the transactions legitimate.
While a small portion of the money from the first e-transfer was eventually returned the vast majority remained unrecovered.
"They told that they think the first transfer person was also a victim," said Fred DeBock.
That person had returned the $7800 e-transfer sent to their account.
The DeBocks were shocked to discover their account had a $25,000 e-transfer maximum per transaction with no daily limit.
This was a detail they said that they were never made aware of.
The incident has been financially and emotionally draining.
They felt they needed to switch banks and were struggling to pay bills with their accounts frozen following the theft.
They filed a formal complaint in January, and a third level investigation was reportedly launched in March.
"Several people who have the same type of thing happen have called," said Fred DeBock.
These people experienced similar cyber-crimes and shared their stories with the DeBocks.
"They (ATB) told me they couldn't tell me how those people got into the account," said Fred DeBock.
The DeBocks experience left them with a loss of $18,000 and a stark reminder that they are not alone.
According to the Canadian Anti-fraud Centre Canadians reported losing over $638 million to fraud in 2024 which was an increase over the previous year.
The Centre urges everyone to report incidents of fraud to help track and combat these criminal activities.
Cyber security experts offer several crucial tips to help protect your finances. Secure your devices by installing reputable antivirus software on your personal computer.
Strengthen passwords by using strong unique passwords for each online account with a minimum of 12 characters and change them regularly. Enable two-factor authentication on all your accounts where the organization will text you a verification code when you access your account.
Set up alerts to enable real time notifications from your bank to monitor suspicious activity as it happens. Stay informed and be aware of common fraud tactics like phishing and social engineering.
For additional resources the Government of Alberta provides free online cyber security training and tip sheets at alberta.ca/cybersecurity-in-alberta.
