Manitoba senior scammed out of more than $50,000 speaks out

After being scammed out of tens of thousands of dollars over 10 days, a senior is concerned her bank did not stop the unusual financial activity.

Last month Dolores Brommell received a phone call from someone claiming to be from her bank, telling her that her RBC bank account was compromised.

“I was told in order to fix this I would be involved in an RCMP undercover sting operation to try and catch the ring leader,” Dolores said. “I really thought I was doing a good thing.”

The 71-year-old was then told she needed to buy a large number of gift cards – which she would be compensated for.  The scammers showed Dolores fake bank statements of this by taking remote control of her computer.

“I was told which stores to go to, how much money to spend at each store, how much would be on Visa, how much would be in cash.”

In total, she lost approximately $55,000.

“My mom has been scammed out of $50,000. And the first sign of it was I got a call from the Winnipeg police,” Alaina Brommell told CTV News. “What scares me is how easy this could creep up on seniors and how believable they must have been to convince her.”

Alaina says she is not hopeful RBC will cover the loss.

“They’ve already asked my mom how she plans to service this – if she wants to pay for the interest on it or interest and balance.”

RBC told CTV News in an email statement that it would never ask its clients to participate in an undercover operation, and that it communicates fraud prevention information.

“We can advise that we are taking this matter seriously. The matter has been escalated internally, and we will continue to work with our client in the process of our review,” the statement said.

Dolores says she and the bank are almost like co-defendants, "They got scammed also in a sense,” she said.

“It’s the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre that encouraged me to speak out and try to hold RBC responsible,” Dolores said, noting RBC did not interview or alert her when she was suddenly spending thousands of dollars a day.

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre says so far this year more than 33,000 people have been victims of fraud, losing a combined total of close to $284 million.

RCMP Manitoba spokesperson Const. Paul Manaigre says to never click on suspicious links or give out personal information.

"If you have come concerns that you owe something or banks notice something suspicious, hang up, and then maybe call the bank or institution that is reported to be reaching out to you,” Manaigre said.

RCMP Manitoba says the phone number used by the fraudsters to contact Dolores was not traceable, likely from overseas. It says because of this, it has concluded its investigation. The Winnipeg Police Service’s Fraud and Financial Crimes Unit is investigating.