BARRHEAD - Another Barrhead resident has reported being defrauded by phone after a local couple's report earlier this month.
Brian Devereaux had $5,500 stolen online from his bank account and his credit card in July 2024.
His bank, ATB Financial, the RCMP, CSIS and the FBI were all contacted.
“They couldn't do anything for me so now it's been a year,” said Devereaux.
He does all his banking on his phone and on July 1, 2024; after making an online purchase he found his bank account and credit cards frozen.
ATB Financial confirmed that his accounts were frozen when he called to find out what was going on.
Later that day he received a call that read ATB Card Services on the phone display with the official ATB Financial phone number.
They asked all the right questions and had detailed information on his accounts.
They confirmed that Devereaux’s accounts were frozen and there was some fraudulent activity they caught just in time.
They said they froze the accounts while they investigated.
The thieves were fraudulently representing ATB bank staff and told him he would have to properly secure the account to get the money back.
The fraudsters texted Devereaux codes to read back to them.
Unfortunately, he did as asked and read the codes back to them over the phone.
He followed their instructions to wait until the following Monday or Tuesday to be able to get the money back.
This was the scam, and they took $5,500 out of his bank accounts and put $1500 onto his credit card.
It was reported to the RCMP, the bank and to the credit card company.
Devereaux even went as far as the FBI and talked to security intelligence service, but they couldn't do anything either.
He was advised that his money ended up in Dubai with some sort of fake investment firm.
After talking to the bank, he was advised they couldn't do anything because the fraud was committed out of country.
What seems confusing to Devereux is the bank manager said he spoke to Devereux and was told that the transfers were made legitimately because he provided the correct codes.
Devereux believes the bank manager spoke to the fraudsters who had the codes that Devereux had read back to them in the phone call on the day of the theft.
He tried to explain that the confirmation call with the codes was not him on the phone to no avail.
The thieves left enough money for a car payment in the account.
The money put on the credit card was refunded to Devereux.
Devereux works full time, and it has taken a year to build up savings, but the loss of the money has made the last year a tough one.
This loss was a lot of money to Devereux and the experience still haunts him today.
He has two-step verification on his accounts now and does what he can to safeguard against another theft.
Devereux felt he was pretty good at picking up on these scams but when the call display shows the right bank identifier and phone number he questions if anyone would question that.
He has talked to other people in Barrhead that have experienced the same type of theft and lost money.
For more information on what you can do about protecting yourself against fraud you can find resources on the Alberta Government website at alberta.ca/cybersecurity-in-alberta,
If you find yourself a victim of these fraud theft crimes you can report your incident through the Anti-Fraud Centre’s website: antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca.
The Anti-Fraud Centre reported the number of fraud victims in 2024 were more than 34,000 people totaling an estimated $638 million in total losses.
